Chapter XII: Part 12

The root is sweet and very mucilaginous when chewed, containing more than half its weight of saccharine viscous mucilage. It is, therefore, emollient, demulcent, pain-soothing, and lubricating; serving to subdue heat and irritation, whilst, if applied externally, diminishing the painful soreness of inflamed parts. It is, for these reasons, much employed in domestic poultices, and in decoction as a medicine for pulmonary catarrhs, hoarseness, and irritative diarrhoea or dysentery. Also the decoction acts well as a bland soothing collyrium for [324] bathing inflamed eyes. Gerard says: "The leaves be with good effect mixed with fomentations and poultices against pains of the sides, of the stone, and of the bladder; also in a bath they serve to take away any manner of pain."

The mucilaginous matter with which the Marsh Mallow abounds is the medicinal part of the plant; the roots of the Common Mallow being useless to yield it for such purposes, whilst those of the Marsh Mallow are of singular efficacy. A decoction of Marsh Mallow is made by adding five pints of water to a quarter-of-a-pound of the dried root, then boiling down to three pints, and straining through calico. Also Marsh Mallow ointment is a popular remedy, especially for mollifying heat, and hence it was thought invaluable by those who had to undergo the ordeal of holding red hot iron in their hands, to rapidly test their moral integrity. The sap of the Marsh Mallow was combined together with seeds of Fleabane, and the white of an hen's egg, to make a paste which was so adhesive that the hands when coated with it were safe from harm through holding for a few moments the glowing iron.

French druggists prepare a famous medicinal sweet-meat, known as _Pate de gimauve_ from the root of the Marsh Mallow. In Palestine, the plant is employed by the poor to eke out their food; thus we read in the book of Job (chap. xxx. ver. 4), "Who cut up Mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat."

In France, the young tops and tender leaves of the Marsh Mallow are added to spring salads, as stimulating the kidneys healthily, for which purpose is likewise prepared a syrup of Marsh Mallows (_Syrupus Althoeus_) from the roots with cold water, to which the [325] sugar is afterwards added. The leaves, flowers, and roots, are employed for making ptisans. In Devonshire, this plant is termed by the farmers, "Meshmellish," also "Drunkards," because growing close by the water; and in the West of England, "Bulls-eyes"; whilst being known in Somerset as "Bull Flowers" (pool flowers). The root of the Marsh Mallow contains starch, mucilage, pectin, oil, sugar, asparagin, phosphate of lime, glutinous matter and cellulose. An infusion made with cold water takes up the mucilage, sugar, and asparagin, then the hot water dissolves the starch.

The flowers were used formerly on May-day by country people for strewing before their doors, and weaving into garlands.

The Geranium is said to have been originally a Mallow. Mahomet having washed his shirt while on a journey, hung it on a Mallow to dry, and the plant became therefore promoted to be a Geranium.

Most probably, the modern French _Pate de gimauve_ contains actually nothing of the plant or its constituents; but the root is given in France to infants, on which they may try their teeth during dentition, much as Orris root is used elsewhere.

The laxative quality of the common Mallow was mentioned by Martial:--

"Exoneraturas ventrem mihi villica malvas
Attulit, et varias quas habet hortus opes."

The Musk Mallow (_Malva moschata_) is another common variety of this plant, which emits from its leaves a faint musky odour, especially in warm weather, or when they are drawn lightly through the hand. Its virtues are similar in kind, but less powerful in degree, to those of the Marsh Mallow.

[326] MARIGOLD.

In the _Grete Herball_ this plant was called Mary Gowles. Three varieties of the Marigold exercise medicinal virtues which constitute them Herbal Simples of a useful nature--the Corn Marigold (_Chrysanthemum segetum_), found in our cornfields; the cultivated garden Marigold (_Calendula officinalis_); and the Marsh Marigold (_Caltha palustris_), growing in moist grass lands, and popularly known as "Mareblobs."

The Corn Marigold, a Composite flower, called also Bigold, and the Yellow Oxeye, grows freely, though locally, in English cornfields, its brilliant yellow flowers contrasting handsomely with adjacent Scarlet-hued Poppies and Bluebottles (_Centaurea cyanus_). It is also named Buddle or Boodle, from _buidel_, a purse, because it bears _gools_ or _goldins_, representing gold coins, in the form of the flat, round, brightly yellow blossoms, which were formerly known, too, as _Ruddes_ (red flowers). The botanical title of the species, _Chrysanthemum segetum_, signifies "golden flower."

Hill named this Marigold, "the husbandman's dyall." In common with the larger Oxeye Daisy (_Chrysanthemum leucanthemum_) it has proved of late very successful in checking the night sweats of pulmonary consumption. A tincture and an infusion of the herb have been made; from five to ten drops of the former being given for a dose, and from two to three tablespoonfuls of the latter.

The garden Marigold, often called African Marigold, came originally from Southern France, and has been cultivated in England since 1570. It is a Composite plant, and bears the name _Calendula_ from the Latin _calendoe_, the first days of each month, because it flowers all the year round. Whittier styles it "the grateful and [327] obsequious Marigold." The leaves are somewhat thick and sapid; when chewed, they communicate straightway a viscid sweetness, which is followed by a sharp, penetrating taste, very persistent in the mouth, and not of the warm, aromatic kind, but of an acrid, saline nature. This Marigold has always been grown, chiefly for its flowers, which were esteemed of old as a cordial to cheer the spirits, and when dried were put into broths as a condiment: Charles Lamb (Elia) says, in his _Essay on Christ's Hospital_: "In lieu of our half-pickled Sundays, or quite fresh boiled beef on Tuesdays (strong as _caro equina_), with detestable Marigolds floating in the pail to poison the broth." The strap-like florets of the rays are the parts of the flowers used for such a purpose. They should be gathered on a fine day when the blossoms are fully expanded, which having been divested of their outer green leaves, should be next spread on a cloth in an airy room to become dry. After having been turned frequently for a few days, they may be put by in paper bags or in drawers.

Gerard says: "The yellow leaves of the flowers are dried and kept throughout Dutch-land against winter, to put into broths and physical potions, and for divers other purposes, in such quantity that the stores of some grocers or spice-sellers contain barrels filled with them, and to be retailed by the penny, more or less; insomuch, that no broths are well made without dried Marigolds"; and, "The herb drank after the coming forth from the bath of them that hath the yellow jaundice doth in short time make them well coloured." (This is probably conjectured on the doctrine of signatures.)

A decoction of the flowers is employed by country people as a posset drink in measles and small-pox; and the expressed fresh juice proves a useful remedy against [328] costiveness, as well as for jaundice and suppression of the monthly flow--from one to two tablespoonfuls being taken as a dose.

The plant has been considered also of service for scrofulous children, when given to them as a salad. One of the flowers if rubbed on any part recently stung by a bee or wasp, will quickly relieve it.

Buttercups and Marigolds, when growing close to each other, are called in Devonshire, "publicans and sinners." The active, bitter principle of the Marigold is "callendulin," which is yellow and tasteless, whilst swelling in water into a transparent jelly. Druggists now make a medicinal tincture (H.) of the common Marigold, using four ounces of the dried florets to a pint of proof spirit, the dose being from half a teaspoonful to two teaspoonfuls in water, twice or three times in the day. It is advised as a sudorific stimulant in low fevers, and to relieve spasms. Also, the Marigold has been employed both as a medicine and externally in treating cancer, being thought to "dispose cancerous sores to heal." A saturated tincture of the flowers when mixed with water, promotes the cure of contusions, wounds, and simple sores or ulcers; also the extract will allay chronic vomiting, if given in doses of two grains, several times a day. One drop of the tincture with two grains of powdered borax when sprayed into the ear, is very useful if a discharge has become established therefrom.

The plant, especially its flowers, was used on a large scale by the American surgeons, to treat wounds and injuries sustained during the last civil war; and obtained their warmest commendation. It quite prevented all exhausting suppurative discharges and drainings. _Succus Calenduloe_ (the fresh juice) is the best form--say American surgeons--in which the _Calendula_ [329] is obtainable for ready practice. Just sufficient alcohol should be added to the juice as will prevent fermentation. For these purposes as a vulnerary, the _Calendula_ owes its introduction and first use altogether to homoeopathic methods, as signally valuable for healing wounds, ulcers, burns, and other breaches of the skin surface. Dr. Hughes (Brighton) says: "The Marigold is a precious vulnerary. You will find it invaluable in surgical practice."

On exposure to the sun the yellow colour of the garden Marigold becomes bleached. Some writers spell the name "Marygold," as if it, and its synonyms bore reference to the Virgin Mary; but this is a mistake, though there is a fancied resemblance of the disc's florets to rays of glory. It comes into blossom about March 25th (the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary).

"What flower is this which bears the Virgin's name,
And richest metal joined with the same?"

In the chancel of Burynarbon Church, Devonshire, is an epitaph containing a quaint allusion to this old idea respecting the Marigold:--"To the pretious memory of Mary, ye dear, and only daughter of George Westwood. January 31st, 1648."

"This Mary Gold, lo! here doth show
Mari's worth gold lies here below;
The Marigold in sunshine spread,
When cloudie closed doth bow the head."

Margaret of Orleans had for her device a Marigold turning towards the sun, with the motto, "_je ne veux suivre que lui seul_."

Dairy women used to churn the petals of the Marigold with their cream for giving to their butter a yellow colour.

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 order of plants (_Ranunculaceoe_). The term, Marsh Marigold, is a pleonasm for Marigold, which means of itself the Marsh Gowl or Marsh Golden Flower, being an abbreviation of the old Saxon _mear-gealla_. So that the term "Marsh" has become prefixed unnecessarily. Presently, the name "Marigold," "Marsh Gowl," was passed on to the _Calendula_ of the corn fields of Southern Europe, and to the garden Marigold. Furthermore, the botanical title, Caltha, of the Mare Blob, is got from _calathus_, a small round basket of twigs or osiers made two thousand years and more ago, which the concave golden bowl of the Marsh Marigold was thought to resemble. Persephone was collecting wild flowers in a _Calathus_ when carried off by the admiring Pluto. The earliest use of the floral name _Caltha_ occurs in Virgil's second Pastoral, "_Mollia luteola pingit vaccinia Caltha_." The title Mare Blob comes from the Anglo-Saxon, "_mere_" (a marsh), and "_bleb_" or "_blob_" (a bladder). These flowers were the _flaventia lumina Calthoe_ of Columella, described by Shakespeare in the _Winter's Tale_. They are also known as "Bublicans," "Meadowbrights," "Crazies," "Christ's Eyes," "Bull's Eyes," "May Blobs," "Drunkards," "Water Caltrops," and wild "Batchelor's Buttons." A tincture is made (H.) from the whole plant when in flower, and may be given with success for that form of bloodlessness with great impairment of the whole health, known as pernicious anaemia. In toxic quantities the marsh Marigold has produced in its provers, a pallid, yellow, swollen state of the face, constant headache and giddiness, a thickly-coated tongue, diarrhoea, a small rapid pulse sometimes intermittent, heaviness of the limbs, and an [331] unhealthy, eruptive state of the skin; so that the tincture of the plant in small, well-diluted doses will slowly overcome this totality of symptoms, and serve to establish a sound state of restored health. Five drops of the tincture diluted to the third strength should be given three times a day with water. Dr. Withering tells that on a large quantity of the flowers being put in the bed-room of a girl subject to fits, the attacks ceased; and an infusion of the flowers has been since given with success for similar fits.

The Marsh Marigold has been called _Verrucaria_, because efficacious in curing warts; also _Solsequia_, or _Solsequium_; and Sponsa Solis, since the flower opens at the rising, and shuts at the setting of the sun.

MARJORAM.

The common Marjoram (_Origanum_) grows frequently as a wild labiate plant on dry, bushy places, especially in chalky districts throughout Britain, the whole herb being fragrantly aromatic, and bearing flowers of a deep red colour. When cultivated in our kitchen gardens it becomes a favourite pot herb, as "Sweet Marjoram," with thin compact spikes, and more elliptical leaves than the wild Marjoram. Its generic title, _Origanum_, means in Greek, the joy of the mountains (_oros-ganos_) on which it grows.

This plant and the Pennyroyal are often called "Organ." Its dried leaves are put as a pleasant condiment into soups and stuffings, being also sometimes substituted for tea. Together with the flowering tops they contain an essential volatile fragrant oil, which is carminative, warming, and tonic. An infusion made from the fresh plant will excellently relieve nervous headaches by virtue of the camphoraceous principle [332] contained in the oil; and externally the herb may be applied with benefit in bags as a hot fomentation to painful swellings and rheumatism, as likewise for colic. "Organy," says Gerard, "is very good against the wambling of the stomacke, and stayeth the desire to vomit, especially at sea. It may be used to good purpose for such as cannot brooke their meate."

The sweet Marjoram has also been successfully employed externally for healing scirrhous tumours of the breast. Murray says: "Tumores mammarum dolentes scirrhosos herba recens, viridis, per tempus applicata feliciter dissipavit." The essential oil, when long kept, assumes a solid form, and was at one time much esteemed for being rubbed into stiff joints. The Greeks and Romans crowned young couples with Marjoram, which is in some countries the symbol of honour. Probably the name was originally, "Majoram," in Latin, _Majorana_. Our forefathers scoured their furniture with its odorous juice. In the _Merry Wives of Windsor_, Act v, Scene 5, we read:--

"The several chairs of order look you scour
With juice of balm, and every precious flower."

MERCURY-DOG'S (_Euphorbiaceoe_).

The _Mercuriallis perennis_ (Dog's Mercury) grows commonly in our hedges and ditches, occurring in large patches, with egg-shaped pointed leaves, square stems, and light green flowers, developed in spikes. The old herbalists called it Smerewort, and gave it for agues, as well as to cure melancholy humours. It has been eaten in mistake for Good King Henry, which is sometimes called Mercury Goosefoot; but it is decidedly poisonous, even when cooked. Some persons style it "Kentish Balsam."

[333] The name Dog's Mercury or Dog's Cole was given either because of its supposed worthlessness, or to distinguish it from the Mercury Goosefoot aforesaid. A medicinal tincture is made (H.) from the whole plant freshly collected when in flower and fruit, with spirit of wine; and the dose of this in a diluted form is from five to ten drops, of the third decimal strength, two or three times a day, with a spoonful of water. The condition which indicates its medicinal use, is that of a severe catarrh, with chilliness, a heavy head, sneezing, a dry mouth, and general aching, lassitude, with stupor, and heat of face. Its chemical constituents have not been ascertained. In the Isle of Skye it is used for causing salivation, as a vegetable mercury; and _per contra_ for curing a sore mouth.

Such virtues as the herb possesses were thought to have been taught by the god Mercury. The Greeks called it Mercury's Grass (_Ermou poa_). When boiled and eaten with fried bacon in error for the English spinach, Good King Henry, it has produced sickness, drowsiness, and convulsive twitchings. The root affords both a blue and a crimson colour for dyeing.

MINTS. (Pennyroyal, Peppermint, and Spearmint).

Several kinds of the Mints have been used medicinally from the earliest times, such as Balm, Basil, Ground Ivy, Horehound, Marjoram, Pennyroyal, Peppermint, Rosemary, Sage, Savory, Spearmint, and Thyme, some being esteemed rather as pot herbs, than as exercising positive medicinal effects. The most useful as Herbal Simples which have yet to be considered are Pennyroyal, Peppermint, and Spearmint. The Cat Mint (_Nepeta cataria_) and Horse Mint are of minor importance.

[334] All the Mints are severally provided with leaves of a familiar fragrant character, it having been observed that this aromatic vegetation is a feature of deserts, and of other hot, dry places, allover the world. Tyndall showed the power exercised by a spray of perfume when diffused through a room to cool it, or in other words to exclude the passage of the heat rays; and it has been suggested that the presence of essential oils in the leaves of these plants serves to protect them against the intense dry heat of a desert sun all effectively as if they were partly under shelter. Nevertheless Mints, with the exception of "Arvensis," are the inhabitants of wet and marshy wastes.

They have acquired their common name _Mentha_ from Minthes (according to Ovid) who was changed into a plant of this sort by Proserpina, the wife of Pluto, in a fit of jealousy. Their flowering tops are all found to contain a certain portion of camphor. Pliny said: "As for the garden Mint, the very smell of it alone recovers and refreshes the spirits, as the taste stirs up the appetite for meat, which is the reason that it is so general in our acid sauces, wherein we are accustomed to dip our meat." The Mints for paying tithes, with respect to which the Pharisees were condemned for their extravagance by our Saviour, included the Horse Mint (_Sylvestris_), the round-leaved Mint, the hairy Mint (_Aquatica_), the Corn Mint (_Arvensis_), the Bergamot Mint, and some others, besides the "Mint, Rue, and Anise," specially mentioned. "Woe unto you Pharisees; for ye tithe Mint and Rue, and all manner of herbs. Ye pay tithe of Mint, and Anise, and Cummin."

The Mint Pennyroyal (_Mentha Pulegium_) gets its name from the Latin _puleium regium_, because of its royal efficacy in destroying fleas (_pulices_). The French call [335] this similarly, _Pouliot_. It grows on moist heaths and pastures, and by the margins of brooks, being cultivated further in our herb gardens, for kitchen and market uses. Also, it is produced largely about Mitcham, and is mostly sold in a dry state. The herb was formerly named Pudding Grass, from its being used to make the stuffing for meat, in days when this was termed a pudding. Thus we read in an old play, _The Ordinary_:--

"Let the corporal
Come sweating under a breast of mutton stuffed with
[pudding]."

The Pennyroyal was named by the Greeks _Bleekon_ and _Gleekon_, being often used by them as a condiment for seasoning different viands. Formerly it was known in England as "Lurk in ditch," and "Run by the ground," from its creeping nature, arid love of a damp soil. Its first titles were "Puliall Royall," and "Hop Marjoram." A chaplet of Pennyroyal was considered admirable for clearing the brain. Treadwell says, the Pennyroyal was especially put into hog's puddings, which were made of flour, currants, and spice, and stuffed into the entrail of a hog.

The oil of Pennyroyal is used commercially in France and Germany. Its distilled water is carminative and anti-spasmodic; whilst the whole plant is essentially stimulating. The fresh herb yields about one per cent. of a volatile oil containing oxygen, but of which the exact composition has not been ascertained. From two to eight drops may be given as a dose in suitable cases, but not where feverish or inflammatory symptoms are present.

If added to an ordinary embrocation the oil of [336] Pennyroyal increases the reddening and the benumbing (anodyne) effects, acting in the same way as, menthol (oil of Peppermint) for promptly dispelling severe neuralgic pain. With respect to the Pennyroyal, folk speak in Devonshire of "Organs," "Organ Tea," and "Organ Broth." An essence is made of the oil, mixed and diluted with spirit of wine. The Pennyroyal has proved useful in whooping cough; but the chief purpose to which it has long been devoted, is that of promoting, the monthly flow with women. Haller says he never knew an infusion of the herb in white wine, with steel, to fail of success; _Quod me nunquam fefellit_. It is certain that in some parts of England preparations of Pennyroyal are in considerable demand, and a great number of women ascribe _emmenagogue_ properties to it, that is, the power of inducing the periodical monthly flux. Many married women of intelligence and close observation, assert as a positive fact, that Pennyroyal will bring on the periodical flow when suppressed; and yet the eminent jurisprudist, Dr. Taylor, was explicit in declaring that Pennyroyal has no such properties. He stated that it has no more effect on the womb than peppermint or camphor water. So there is difficulty in collecting evidence as regards the real action of Pennyroyal in such respect. Chemists supply the medicine in the full belief of this eminent opinion just quoted: at the same time they know it is not wanted for "catarrh of the chest," as alleged. The purchaser keeps her secret to herself, and does not communicate her experience to anyone. Dr. Taylor evidently supposed Peppermint water and Camphor water to be almost inert, especially as exercising any toxical effect on the womb. The medicinal basis of the latter is certainly a powerful agent, and its stimulating volatile principles [337] are found to exist in most of the aromatic herbs; in fact, Camphor is a concrete volatile vegetable oil, and camphoraceous properties signalise all the essences derived from carminative Herbal Simples.

The Camphor of commerce is secreted by trees of the laurel sort native to China and Japan, whilst coming also from the West Indies. Everyone knows by sight and smell the white crystalline granular semi-translucent gum, strongly odorous, and having a warm pungent characteristic taste. Branches, leaves, and chips of the trees are soaked in water until it is saturated with the extract, which is then turned out into an earthen basin to coagulate. This is completely soluble in spirit of wine, but scarcely at all in water; nevertheless, if a lump of the Camphor be kept in a bottle of fresh water, to be drawn off from time to time as required, it will constitute Camphor julep. A wineglassful of it serves to relieve nervous headache and hysterical depression.

The domestic uses of Camphor are multiple, and within moderate limits perfectly safe; but a measure of caution should be exercised, as was shown a while ago by the school-boy, whom his mother furnished affectionately after the holidays with a bottle of supersaturated pilules to be taken one or two at a time against any incipient catarrh or cold. The whole bottleful was devoured at once as a sweetmeat, and the lad's life was rescued with difficulty because of intense nervous shock occasioned thereby.

An old Latin adage declares that _Camphora per nares emasculat mares_, "Camphor in excess makes men eunuchs," even when imbibed only through the air as a continuous practice. And, therefore, as a "similar" the odorous gum, in small repeated doses, is an excellent sexual restorative. Likewise, persons who have taken poisonous, or large [338] probative quantities of Camphor found themselves quickly affected by exhausting choleraic diarrhoea; and Hahnemann therefore advised, with much success, to give (in doses of from one to three or four drops on sugar), repeatedly for cholera, a tincture of Camphor (Rubini's) made with spirit of wine above proof. This absorbs as much as is possibly soluble of the drug.

Physiologically Camphor acts by reducing reflex nervous irritability. Externally its spirit makes an admirable warming liniment, either by itself, or when conjoined with other rubefacients. In persons poisoned by the drug, all the superficial blood vessels of the bodily skin have been found immensely dilated; acting on a knowledge of which fact anyone wishing to produce copious general sweating, may do so by sitting over a plate on which Camphor is heated, whilst a blanket envelops the body loosely, and is pinned round the neck so that the fumes do not get down the throat.

In medical books of the last century this substance was called "Camphire." To a certain extent its effluvium is noxious to insects, and it may therefore be employed for preserving specimens, as well as for protecting fabrics against moths. But its volatile odours swiftly evaporate, and become even offensively diffused about the room. In a moderate measure Camphor is antiseptic, and lessens urinary irritation. Recently a dose of ninety-six grains, taken toxically, produced giddiness, then epileptic convulsions, with dilated pupils, and stertor of breathing.

The Peppermint (_Mentha piperita_), or "Brandy Mint," so called because having a pungent smell, and taste of a peppery (_piper_) nature, is a labiate plant, found not uncommonly in moist places throughout Britain, and occurring of several varieties. Both it and the Spearmint [390] probably escaped from cultivation at first, and then became our wild plants. Its leaves and stems exhale a powerful, refreshing, characteristic aroma, and give a taste which, whilst delicate at first, is quickly followed by a sense of numbness and coldness, increased by inspiring strongly. Preparations of Peppermint, when swallowed, diffuse warmth in the stomach and mouth, acting as a stimulating carminative, with some amount of anodyne power to allay the pain of colic, flatulence, spasm, or indigestion. This is through the powerful volatile oil, of which the herb yields one per cent.

Its bruised fresh leaves, if applied, will relieve local pains and headache. A hot infusion, taken as tea, soothes stomach ache, allays sickness, and stays colicky diarrhoea. This will also subdue menstrual colic in the female. The essential oil owes its virtues to the menthol, or mint camphor, which it contains.

The Peppermint is largely grown at Mitcham, and is distilled on the ground at a low temperature, the water which comes away with the oil not being re-distilled, but allowed for the most part to run off.

Chinese oil of Peppermint (_Po Ho Yo_) yields menthol in a solid crystalline form, which, when rubbed over the surface of a painful neuralgic part, will afford speedy and marked relief, as also for neuralgic tooth-ache, tic douloureux, and the like grievous troubles. It is sold in diminutive bottles and cases labelled with Chinese characters. An ethereal tincture of menthol is made officinally with one part of menthol to eight parts of pure ether. If some of this is inhaled by vaporisation from a mouthpiece inhaler, or is sprayed into the nostrils and hindermost throat, it will relieve acute affections thereof, and of the nose, by making the blood vessels contract, and by arresting the flow of mucous discharge, [340] thus diminishing the congestion, and quieting the pain. This camphoraceous oil was formerly applied by the Romans to the temples for the cure of headache. In local rheumatic affections the skin may be painted beneficially with oil of Peppermint. For internal use, from one to three drops of the oil may be given as a dose on sugar, or in a spoonful of milk; but the diluted essence, made from some of the oil admixed with spirit of wine, is to be preferred. Put on cotton wool into the hollow of a carious tooth, a drop or two of the essential oil will often ease the pain speedily. The fresh plant, bruised, and applied against the pit of the stomach over the navel, will allay sickness, and is useful to stay the diarrhoeic purging of young children. From half to one teaspoonful of the spirituous essence of Peppermint may be given for a dose with two tablespoonfuls of hot water; or, if Peppermint water be chosen, the dose of this should be from half to one wineglassful. Distilled Peppermint water should be preferred to that prepared by adding the essence to common water. Lozenges made of the oil, or the essence, are admirable for affording ease in colic, flatulence, and nausea. They will also prevent or relieve sea-sickness.

When Tom Hood lay a dying he turned his eyes feebly towards the window on hearing it rattle in the night, whereupon his wife, who was watching him, said softly. "It's only the wind, dear"; to which he replied, with a sense of humour indomitable to the last, "Then put a Peppermint lozenge on the sill."

Two sorts of this herb are cultivated for the market--black and white Peppermint, the first of which furnishes the most, but not the best oil. The former has purple stems, and the latter green. As an antiseptic, and destroyer of disease germs, this oil is signally efficacious, [341] on which important account it is now used for inhalation by consumptive patients as a volatile vapour to reach remote diseased parts of the lung passages, and to heal by destroying the morbid germs which are keeping up mischief therein. Towards proving this preservative power exercised by the oil of Peppermint, pieces of meat, and of fat, wrapped in several layers of gauze medicated with the oil have been kept for seven months sweet, and free from putrescent changes. A simple respirator for inhaling the oil is made from a piece of thin perforated zinc plate adapted to the shape of the mouth and nostrils like a small open funnel, within the narrow end of which is fitted a pledget of cotton wool saturated with twenty drops of the oil, or from twenty to thirty drops of the spirituous essence. This should be renewed each night and morning, whilst the apparatus is to be worn nearly all day. At the same time the oil is agreeable of odour, and is altogether harmless. It may be serviceably admixed with liniments for use to rheumatic parts.

"Peppermint," says Dr. Hughes (Brighton), "should be more largely employed than it is in coughs, especially in a dry cough, however caused, when it seems to act specifically as a cure, just as arnica does for injuries, or aconite for febrile inflammation. It will relieve even the irritative hectic cough of consumptive patients. Eight or ten drops of the essence should be given for this purpose as a dose with a tablespoonful of water. In France continuous inhalations of Peppermint oil combined with creasote and glycerine, have become used most successfully, even when cavities exist in the lungs, with copious bacillary expectoration. The cough, the night sweats, and the heavy phlegm have been arrested, whilst the nutrition and the weight have steadily increased."

[342] A solution of menthol one grain, spirit of wine fifty drops, and oil of cloves ten drops, if painted over the seat of pain, will relieve neuralgia of the face, or sciatica promptly. Unhealthy sores may be cleansed, and their healing promoted, by being dressed with strips of soft rag dipped in sweet oil, to each ounce of which one or two drops of the oil of Peppermint has been added. For diphtheria, Peppermint oil has been of marked use when applied freely twice or three times in the day to the ulcerated parts of the throat. This oil, or the essence, can be used of any strength, in any quantity, without the least harm to the patient. It checks suppuration when applied to a sore or wound, whilst exercising an independent antiseptic influence. "Altogether," says Dr. Braddon, "the oil of Peppermint forms the best, safest, and most agreeable of known antiseptics." Pliny tells that the Greeks and Romans crowned themselves with the Peppermint at their feasts, and adorned their _al fresco_ tables with its sprays. The "chefs" introduced this herb into all their sauces, and scented their wines with its essence. The Roman housewives made a paste of the Peppermint with honey, which they esteemed highly, partaking of it to sweeten their breath, and to conceal their passion for wine at a time when the law punished with death every woman convicted of quaffing the ruby seductive liquor. Seneca perished in a bath scented with woolly mint.

The Spearmint (_Mentha viridis_) is found growing apparently wild in England, but is probably not an indigenous herb. It occurs in watery places, and on the banks of rivers, such as the Thames, and the Exe. If used externally, its strong decoction will heal chaps and indolent eruptions.

It possesses a warm, aromatic odour and taste, much [343] resembling those of Peppermint, but not so pungent. Its volatile oil, and its essence, made with spirit of wine, contain a similar stimulating principle, but are less intense, and therefore better adapted for children's maladies.

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. When the leaves of the herb are macerated in milk, this curdles much less quickly than it otherwise would; and therefore the essence is to be commended for use with milk diets by delicate persons, or for young children of feeble digestive powers, though not when feverishness is present. "Spearmint," says John Evelyn, "is friendly to the weak stomach, and powerful against all nervous crudities." "This is the Spearmint that steadies giddiness," writes Alfred Austin, Poet Laureate.

Our cooks employ it with vinegar for making the mint sauce which we eat with roast lamb, because of its condimentary virtues as a spice to the immature meat, whilst the acetic acid of the vinegar serves to help dissolve the crude albuminous fibre.

The oil is less used than that of Peppermint. From two to five drops may be given on sugar; or from half to one teaspoonful of the spirit of Spearmint with two tablespoonfuls of water. Also a distilled water of Spearmint is made, which will relieve hiccough, and flatulence, as well as the giddiness of indigestion. The tincture prepared from the dried herb looks of a bright dark green by day, but of a deep red colour by night. Martial called the Spearmint _Rutctatrix mentha_. "_Nec deest ructatrix mentha_."

The Calamint, or Basil Thyme, grows frequently in [344] our waysides and hedges, a labiate plant, with downy stems and leaves, whilst bearing light purple flowers. The whole herb has a sweet, aromatic odour, and makes a pleasant cordial tea. It is named from the Greek kalos, "excellent," because thought useful against serpents; "There is made hereof," said Galen, "An antidote marvellous good for young women that want their courses."

The stem of this pretty slender herb is seldom more than five or six inches high, and its blossoms are so inconspicuous as to be often overlooked. The flowers droop gracefully before expansion. In country places it is often called Mill Mountain, and its infusion is an old remedy for rheumatism. If bruised, and applied externally, it reddens the skin, and will sometimes even blister it. In this way it acts well when judiciously used for lumbago, and rheumatic pains. The Calamint contains a camphoraceous, volatile, stimulating oil, in common with the other mints; this is distilled by water, but its virtues are better extracted by rectified spirit. The lesser Calamint is a variety of the herb possessing almost superior virtues, with a stronger odour resembling that of Pennyroyal. "Apple Mint" is the "_Mentha rotundifolia_."

"Many robust men and women among our peasantry," says Dr. George Moore, "from notions of their own, use infusions of Balm, Sage, or even a little Rue, or wild Thyme, as a common drink, with satisfaction to their stomachs, and advantage to their health, instead of infusing the Chinese herb." The Calamint is a favourite herb with such persons. About the Cat mint there is an old saying, "If you set it the cats will eat it: if you sow it the cats won't know it." This, the _Nepeta cataria_, or _herbe aux chats_, is as much beloved by cats as _Valerian_, [345] and the common _Marum_, for which herbs they have a frenzied passion. They roll themselves over the plants, which they lick, tear with their teeth, and bathe with their urine. But the Cat mint is the detestation of rats, insomuch that with its leaves a small barricade may be constructed which the vermin will never pass however hungry they may be. It is sometimes called "Nep," as contracted from _Nepeta_. Hoffman said, "The root of the Cat mint, if chewed, will make the most gentle person fierce and quarrelsome"; and there is a legend of a certain hangman who could never find courage to exercise his gruesome task until he had masticated some of this aromatic root.

MISTLETOE.

The Mistletoe, which we all associate so happily with the festivities of Christmas, is an evergreen parasite, growing on the branches of deciduous trees, and penetrating with simple roots through the bark into the wood. It belongs to the _Loranthaceoe_, and has the botanical name of _Viscum_, or "sticky," because of its glutinous juices. The Mistletoe contains mucilage, sugar, a fixed oil, resin, an odorous principle, some tannin, and various salts. Its most interesting constituent is the "viscin," or bird glue, which is mainly developed by fermentation, and becomes a yellowish, sticky, resinous mass, such as can be used with success as a bird-lime.

The dried young twigs, and the leaves, are chiefly the medicinal parts, though young children have been attacked with convulsions after eating freely of the berries.

The name (in Anglo-Saxon, _Mistiltan_) is derived, says Dr. Prior, from _mistil_, "different," and _tan_, "a twig," [346] because so unlike the tree it grows upon; or, perhaps, _mist_ may refer to excrement, and the adjective, _viscum_, bear some collateral reference to viscera, "entrails." Probably our _viscum_ plant differs from that of the Latin writers in their accounts of the Druids, which would be the _Loranthus_ growing on the _Quercus pubescens_ (an oak indigenous to the south of France). They knew it by a name answering to "all-heal." It is of a larger and thicker sort than our common Mistletoe, which, however, possesses the same virtues in a lesser degree. The Germans call the plant _Vogellein_, and the French _Gui_, which is probably Celtic.

The plant is given powdered, or as an infusion, or made into a tincture (H.) with spirit of wine. From ten to sixty grains of the powder may be taken for a dose, or a decoction may be made by boiling two ounces of the bruised plant with half-a-pint of water, and giving one tablespoonful for a dose several times in the day; or from five to ten drops of the tincture (which is prepared almost exclusively by the homoeopathic chemists) are a dose, with one or two tablespoonfuls of cold water.

Sir John Colebatch published in 1720 a pamphlet, on _The Treatment of Epilepsy by Mistletoe_, regarding it, and with much justice, as a specific. He procured the parasite from the lime trees at Hampton Court. The powdered leaves were ordered to be given (in black cherry water), as much of these as will lie on a sixpence every morning.

Sir John says, "This beautiful plant must have been designed by the Almighty for further and more noble purposes than barely to feed thrushes, or to be hung up superstitiously in houses to drive away evil spirits." His treatise was entitled, _A Dissertation concerning the Misseltoe--A most wonderful Specifick Remedy for the Cure of Convulsive Distempers_. The physiological effect of the [347] plant is that of lessening, and temporarily benumbing such nervous action as is reflected to distant organs of the body from some central organ which is the actual seat of trouble. In this way the spasms of epilepsy and of other convulsive distempers, are allayed. Large doses of the plant, or of its berries, would, on the contrary, aggravate these convulsive disorders.

In a French "_Recueil de Remedes domestiques_," 1682, _Avec privilege du Roy_, we read, de l'epilepsie: "Il est certain que contre ce deplorable mal le veritable Guy de Chene (Mistletoe) est un remede excellent, curatif, preservatif, et qui soulage beaucoup dans l'accident. Il le faut secher au four apres qu'on aura tire le pain: le mettre en poudre fort subtile; passer cette poudre par un tamis de foye, et la conserver pour le besoin. Il faut prendre les poids dun ecu d'or de cette poudre chaque matin dans vin blanc tous les trois derniers jours de la lune vieille. Il est encore bon que la personne affligee de ce mal porte toujours un morceau de Guy de Chene pendu a son col; mais ce morceau doit etre toujours frais, et sans avoir ete mis au four." The active part of the plant is its resin (_viscin_), which is yielded to spirit of wine in making a tincture. This is prepared (H.) with proof spirit from the leaves and ripe berries of our Mistletoe in equal quantities, but it is difficult of manufacture owing to the viscidity of the sap. A special process is employed of passing the material twice through a sausage machine, and then mixing the mass with powdered glass before its percolation with the spirit. A trituration made from the leaves, berries, and tender twigs, is given for epilepsy, in doses of twenty grains, twice or three times a day.

Nowadays the berries are taken by country people when finding themselves troubled with severe stitches, [348] and they obtain almost instantaneous relief. In accordance with which experience Johnson says it was creditably reported to him, "That a few of the berries of the Misseltoe, bruised and strained into oyle and drunken, hath presently and forthwith rid a grievous and sore stitch." The tincture, moreover, is put to a modern use as a heart tonic in place of the foxglove. It lessens reflex irritability, and strengthens the heart's beat, whilst raising the frequency of a slow pulse. Dr. J. Wilde has shown that the Mistletoe possesses a high repute in rural Hampshire for the cure of St. Vitus's dance, and similar spasmodic nervous complaints. In the United States the leaves have been successfully employed as an infusion to check female fluxes, and haemorrhages, also to hasten childbirth by stimulating the womb when labour is protracted to the exhaustion of the mother. In Scotland the plant is almost unknown, and is restricted to one locality only.

The Druids regarded the Mistletoe as the soul of their sacred tree-- the oak; and they taught the people to believe that oaks on which it was seen growing were to be respected, because of the wonderful cures which the priests were then able to effect with it, particularly of the falling sickness. The parasite was cut from the tree with a golden sickle at a high and solemn festival, using much ceremonial display, it being then credited with a special power of "giving fertility to all animals." Ovid said, "Ad viscum cantare Druidoe solebant."

Shakespeare calls it "The baleful Mistletoe," in allusion to the Scandinavian legend, that Balder, the god of peace, was slain with an arrow made of Mistletoe. He was restored to life at the request of the other gods and goddesses. The mistletoe was afterwards given to [349] be kept by the goddess of love; and it was ordained in Olympus that everyone who passed under it should receive a kiss, to show that the branch was the emblem of love, and not of death.

Persons in Sweden afflicted with epilepsy carry with them a knife having a handle of oak mistletoe, which plant they call Thunder-besom, connecting it with lightning and fire. The thrush is the great disseminator of the parasite. He devours the berries eagerly, and soils, or "missels" his feet with their viscid seeds, conveying them thus from tree to tree, and getting thence the name of missel thrush.

In Brittany the plant is named _Herbe de la croix_, and, because the crucifix was made from its wood when a tree, it is thought to have become degraded to a parasite.

When Norwood, in Surrey, was really a forest the Mistletoe grew there on the oak, and, being held as medicinal, it was abstracted for apothecaries in London. But the men who meddled with it were said to become lame, or to fall blind with an eye, and a rash fellow who ventured to cut down the oak itself broke his leg very shortly afterwards. One teaspoonful of the dried leaves, in powder, from the appletree Mistletoe, taken in acidulated water twice a day, will cure chronic giddiness. Sculptured sprays and berries, with leaves of Mistletoe, fill the spandrils of the tomb of one of the Berkeleys in Bristol Cathedral--a very rare adornment, because for some unknown reason the parasite has been always excluded from the decorations of churches. In some districts it is called Devil's-fuge, also the Spectre's Wand, from a belief that with due incantations a branch held in the hand will compel the appearance of a spectre, and require it to speak.

[350] MOUNTAIN ASH.

A somewhat common, and handsomely conspicuous tree in many parts of England, especially about high lands, is the Rowan, or Mountain Ash. In May and June it attracts attention by its bright green feathery foliage set off by cream-coloured bloom, whilst in September it bears a brilliant fruitage of berries, richly orange in colour at first, but presently of a clear ripe vermilion. Popularly this abundant fruit is supposed to be poisonous, but such is far from being the case. A most excellent and wholesome jelly may be prepared therefrom, which is slightly tonic by its salutary bitterness, and is an admirable antiseptic accompaniment to certain roast meats, such as venison and mutton. To make this jelly, boil the berries in water (cold at first) in an enamelled preserving pan; when the fruit has become sufficiently soft, run the contents of the pan through a flannel bag without pressure; tie the bag between two chairs, with a basin below, and let the juice strain leisurely through so as to come out clear. Then to each pint of the juice add a pound of sugar, and boil this from ten to twenty minutes; pour off into warm dry jars, and cover them securely when cool. After the juice has dripped off the fruit a pleasant refreshing drink may be made for children by pouring a kettleful of boiling water through the flannel bag. Some persons mix with the fruit an equal quantity of green apples when making the jelly. Birds, especially field fares, eat the berries with avidity; and a botanical designation of the tree is _aucuparia_, as signifying fruit used by the _auceps_, or bird catcher, with which to bait his snares.

"There is," says an old writer, "in every berry the exhilaration of wine, and the satisfying of old mead; and whosoever shall eat three berries of them, if he has [351] completed a hundred years, he will return to the age of thirty years."

At the same time it must be noted that the _leaves_ of the Mountain Ash are of a poisonous quality, and contain prussic acid like those of the laurel. But, as already shown, the berries, when ripe, may be eaten freely without fear. Chemically they contain tartaric acid when unripe, and both malic and citric acids when ripe. They also furnish sorbin, and parasorbic acid. The unripe fruit and the bark are extremely astringent, being useful in decoction, or infusion, to check diarrhoea; and externally in poultices or lotions, to constringe such relaxed parts as the throat, and lower bowel.

The title Rowan tree has affixed itself to the Mountain Ash, as derived from the Norse, _Runa_ (a charm), because it is supposed to have the power of averting the evil eye.

"Rowan tree and red thread
Hold the witches a' in dread."

"Ruma" was really a magician, or whisperer, from _ru_, to murmur, and in olden times runes, or mystical secrets, were carved exclusively on the Mountain Ash tree in Scandinavia and the British Isles.

Crosses made of the twigs, and tied with red thread were sewn by Highlandmen into their clothes. Dame Sludge fastened a piece of the wood into Flibbertigibbet's collar as a protection against Wayland Smith's sorceries.--(Kenilworth). Other folk-names of the tree are Quicken tree, Quick Beam, Wiggen, and Witcher.

The Mountain Ash is botanically a connecting link between the dog rose of our hedges and the apple tree of our orchards. Its flowers exactly resemble apple blossoms, and its thickly-clustered red berries are only small crabs dwarfed by the love of the tree for mountain [352] heights and bleak windy situations. In the harsh cold regions of the north it is only a stunted shrub with leaves split up into many small leaflets, so as to suffer less by any breadth of resistance to the sharp driving blasts of icy winds.

Confusion has been often made between this tree and the Service tree (_Sorbus_, or _Pyrus domestica_), which is quite distinct, being more correctly called Servise tree, from _Cerevisia_, fermented beer. Formerly this Servise, or Checker-tree, was employed for making an intoxicating drink. Virgil says:--

"Et pocula lae
Fermento atque acidis imitantur vitea _sorbis_."

"With acid juices from the Service Ash,
And humming ale, they make their Lemon Squash."

The fruit of the Service tree (or Witten Pear-tree) resembles a small pear, and is considered in France very useful for dysentery because of its tannin; but this _Pyrus domestica_ is a rare tree in England. Sometimes mistaken for it is the wild Service tree (the _Pyrus torminalis_), much more common in our south country hedges. Its fruit is threaded on long strings, and carried in procession at village feasts in Northamptonshire, but is worthless. Evelyn says, "Ale and beer brewed from the berries, when ripe, of the true Service tree is an incomparable drink."

MUGWORT and WORMWOOD.

The herb Mugwort (_Artemisia vulgaris_), a Composite plant, is frequent about hedgerows and waste ground throughout Britain; and it chiefly merits a place among Herbal Simples because of a special medicinal use in certain female derangements. Its name Mugwort has [353] been attributed to "moughte," a moth, or maggot, this title being given to the plant because Dioscorides commended it for keeping off moths. Its Anglo-Saxon synonym is _Wyrmwyrt_. Mugwort is named from Artemis the Greek goddess of the moon, and is also called Maidenwort or Motherwort (womb wort), being a plant beneficial to the womb.

Macer says, terming it by mistake "Mother of Worts":

"Herbarum matrem justum puto ponere primo
Praepue morbis mulieribus illa medetur."

A decoction of the fresh tops acts famously to correct female irregularities when employed as a bath. _Uterina est, adeoque usus est creberrimus mulierculis quoe eam adhibent externe, atque interne ut vix balnea et lotiones parent in quibus artemisia non contineatur_. Thus writes Ray, quoting from Schroder. Or it may be that the term Mugwort became popularly applied because this herb was in demand for helping to preserve ale. The plant was formerly known as _Cingulum Sancti Johannis_, since a crown made from its sprays was worn on St. John's Eve, to gain security from evil possession; also as _Zona divi Johannis_, it being believed that John the Baptist bore a girdle of it in the wilderness. In Germany and Holland it has received the name of St. John's Plant, because, if gathered on St. John's Eve, it is thought protective against diseases and misfortunes. The Mugwort is also styled "Felon wort," or "Felon herb." If placed in the shoes, it will prevent weariness. A dram of the powdered leaves taken four times a day has cured chronic hysterical fits, which were otherwise intractable. "Mugwort," says Gerard, "cureth the shakings of the joynts inclining to the palsie."

The mermaid of the Clyde is said to have exclaimed, [354] when she beheld the funeral of a young maiden who had died from consumption and decline:--

"If they wad drink nettles in March,
And eat muggins [Mugwort] in May,
Sae mony braw young maidens
Wad na' be gang to clay."