Chapter XIX: Part 19

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."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TAMARIND.

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

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

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

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

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

TANSY.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TARRAGON.

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

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

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

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

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

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

THISTLES.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THYME.

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

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

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

Horace has said concerning Wild Thyme:--

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Or,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TOADFLAX.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Esula lactescit: sine lacte Linaria crescit;"

or,

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

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

"Esoula nil nobis, sed dat linaria _taurum_,"

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

TOMATO (or LOVE APPLE).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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