Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure by William Thomas Fernie (best e reader for manga TXT) 📕

The victors at the old Grecian games were crowned with chaplets of Parsley leaves; and it is more than probable our present custom of encircling a joint, and garnishing a dish with the herb had its origin in this practice. The Romans named Parsley Apium, either because their bee (apis) was specially fond of the herb, or from apex, the head of a conqueror, who was crowned with it. The tincture has a decided action on the lining membrane of the urinary passages, and may be given usefully when this is inflamed, or congested through catarrh, in doses of from five to ten drops three times in the day with a spoonful or two of cold water.

Wild Parsley is probably identical with our garden herb. It is called in the Western counties Eltrot, perhaps because associated with the gambols of the elves.

The Fool's Parsley (oethusa cynapium) is a very common wayside weed, and grows wild in our gardens. It differs botanically from all other parsleys in having no bracts, but three narrow leaves at the base of each umbel. This is a more or less poisonous herb, producing, when eaten in a harmful quantity, convulsive and epileptic symptoms; also an inflamed state of the eyelids, just such as is seen in the scrofulous ophthalmia of children, the condition being accompanied with swelling of glands and eruptions on the skin. Therefore the tincture which is made (H.) of Fool's Parsley, when given in small doses, and diluted, proves [413] very useful for such ophthalmia, and for obviating the convulsive attacks of young children, especially if connected with derangement of the digestive organs. Also as a medicine it has done much good in some cases of mental imbecility. And this tincture will correct the Summer diarrhoea of infants, when the stools are watery, greenish, and without smell. From three to ten drops of the tincture diluted to the third decimal strength, should be given as a dose, and repeated at intervals, for the symptoms just recited.

This variety is named oethusa, because of its acridity, from the Greek verb aitho (to burn). "It has faculties," says Gerard, "answerable to the common Hemlock," the poisonous effects being inflamed stomach and bowels, giddiness, delirium, convulsions, and insensibility. It is called also "Dog's Parsley" and "Kicks."

The leaves of the Fool's Parsley are glossy beneath, with lanceolate lobes, whereas the leaflets of other parsleys are woolly below. Gerard calls it Dog's Parsley, and says: "The whole plant is of a naughty smell." It contains a peculiar alkaloid "cynapina." The tincture, third decimal strength, in half-drop doses, with a teaspoonful of water, will prevent an infant from vomiting the breast milk in thick curds.

Another variety which grows in chalky districts, the Stone Parsley, Sison, or breakstone, was formerly known as the "Hone-wort," from curing a "hone," or boil, on the cheek. It was believed at one time to break a glass goblet or tumbler if rubbed against this article.

The Wild Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) grows on the borders of ploughed fields and about hedgerows, being generally hairy, whilst the Garden Parsnip is smooth, [414] with taller stems, and leaves of a yellowish-green colour. This cultivated Parsnip has been produced as a vegetable since Roman times. The roots furnish a good deal of starch, and are very nutritious for warming and fattening, but when long in the ground they are called in some places "Madnip," and are said to cause insanity.

Chemically, they contain also albumen, sugar, pectose, dextrin, fat, cellulose, mineral matters, and water, but less sugar than turnips or carrots. The volatile oil with which the cultivated root is furnished causes it to disagree with persons of delicate stomach; otherwise it is highly nutritive, and makes a capital supplement to salt fish, in Lent. The seeds of the wild Parsnip (quite a common plant) are aromatic, and are kept by druggists. They have been found curative in ague, and for intermittent fever, by their volatile oil, or by its essence given as a medicine. But the seeds of the garden Parsnip, which are easier to get, though not nearly so efficacious, are often substituted at the shops. A decoction of the wild root is good for a sluggish liver, and in passive jaundice.

In Gerard's time, Parsnips were known as Mypes. Marmalade made with the roots, and a small quantity of sugar, will improve the appetite, and serve as a restorative to invalids.

From the mashed roots of the wild Parsnip in some parts of Ireland, when boiled with hops, the peasants brew a beer. In Scotland a good dish is prepared from Parsnips and potatoes, cooked and beaten together, with butter. Parsnip wine, when properly concocted, is particularly exhilarating and refreshing.

The Water Parsnip (spelt also in old Herbals, Pasnep, and Pastnip, and called Sium) is an umbelliferous plant, [415] common by the sides of rivers, lakes, and ditches, with tender leaves which are "a sovereign remedy against gravel in the kidney, and stone in the bladder." It is known also as Apium nodiflorum, from apon, water, and contains "pastinacina," in common with the wild Parsnip. This is a volatile alkaloid which is not poisonous, and is thought to be almost identical with ammonia. The fresh juice, in doses of one, two, or three tablespoonfuls, twice a day, is of curative effect for scrofulous eruptions on the face, neck, and other parts of children. Dr. Withering tells of a child, aged six years, who was thus cured of an obstinate and otherwise intractable skin disease. The juice may be readily mixed with milk, and does not disagree in any way.

Typical of leguminous plants (so called because they furnish legumin, or vegetable cheese), whilst furthermore possessing certain medicinal properties, the Bean and the Pea have a claim to be classed with Herbal Simples.

The common Kidney Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) is a native of the Indies, but widely cultivated all over Europe, and so well known as not to need any detailed description as a plant. Because of the seed's close resemblance to the kidney, as well as to the male testis, the Egyptians made it an object of sacred worship, and would not partake of it as food. They feared lest by so doing they should eat what was human remaining after death in the Bean, or should consume a soul. The Romans celebrated feasts (Lemuria) in honour of their departed, when Beans were cast into the fire on the altar; and the people threw black Beans on the graves of the deceased, because the smell was thought disagreeable to any hostile Manes. In Italy at the present day it is [416] customary to eat Beans, and to distribute them among the poor, on the anniversary of a death. Because of its decided tendency to cause sleepiness the Jewish High Priest was forbidden to partake of Beans on the day of Atonement; and there is now a common saying in Leicestershire that for bad dreams, or to be driven crazy, one has only to sleep all night in a Bean field. The philosopher, Pythagoras, warned his pupils against eating Beans, the black spot thereon being typical of death; and the disciples were ever mindful: "Jurare in verba magistri." When bruised and boiled with garlic, Beans have been known to cure coughs which were past other remedies. But the roots of the Kidney Bean have proved themselves dangerously narcotic.

The Pea (Pisum sativum) is a native of England, first taking its botanical name from Pisa, a town of Elis, where Peas grew in plenty. The English appellation was formerly Peason, or Pease, and the plant has been cultivated in this country from time immemorial; though not commonly, even in Elizabeth's day, when (as Fuller informs us) "Peas were brought from Holland, and were fit dainties for ladies, they came so far, and cost so dear." In Germany Peas are thought good for many complaints, especially for wounds and bruises; children affected with measles are washed there systematically with water in which peas have been boiled. These, together with Beans and lentils, etc., are included under the general name of pulse, about which Cowper wrote thus:—

    "Daniel ate pulse by choice: example rare!
    Heaven blest the youth, and made him fresh and fair."

Grey Peas were provided in the pits of the Greek and Roman theatres, as we supply oranges and a bill of the Play.

[417] "Hot Grey Pease and a suck of bacon" (tied to a string of which the stall-keeper held the other end), was a popular street cry in the London of James the First.

Peas and Beans contain sulphur, and are richer in mineral salts, such as potash and lime, than wheat, barley, or oats; but their constituents are apt to provoke indigestion, whilst engendering flatulence through sulphuretted hydrogen. They best suit persons who take plenty of out-door exercise, but not those of sedentary habits. The skins of parched Peas remain undigested when eaten cooked, and are found in the excrements. These leguminous plants are less easily assimilated than light animal food by persons who are not robust, or laboriously employed, though vegetarians assert to the contrary. Lord Tennyson wrote to such effect as the result of his personal experience (in his dedication of Tiresias to E. Fitzgerald):—

    "Who live on meal, and milk, and grass:—
        And once for ten long weeks I tried
    Your table of Pythagoras,
        And seem'd at first 'a thing enskied'
    (As Shakespeare has it)—airylight,
        To float above the ways of men:
    Then fell from that half spiritual height,
        Until I tasted flesh again.
    One night when earth was winter black,
        And all the heavens were flashed in frost,
    And on me—half asleep—came back
        That wholesome heat the blood had lost."

But none the less does a simple diet foster spirituality of mind. "In milk"—says one of the oldest Vedas—"the finer part of the curds, when shaken, rises and becomes butter. Just so, my child, the finer part of food rises when it is eaten, and becomes mind."

Old Fuller relates "In a general dearth all over [418] England (1555), plenty of Pease did grow on the seashore, near Dunwich (Suffolk), never set or sown by human industry; which being gathered in full ripeness much abated the high prices in the markets, and preserved many hungry families from famishing." "They do not grow", says he, "among the bare stones, neither did they owe their original to shipwrecks, or Pease cast out of ships." The Sea-side Pea (pisum maritimum) is a rare plant.

The Peach (Amygdabus Persica), the apple of Persia, began to be cultivated in England about 1562, or perhaps before then. Columella tells of this fatal gift conveyed treacherously to Egypt in the first century:—

    "Apples, which most barbarous Persia sent,
    With native poison armed."

The Peach tree is so well known by its general characteristics as not to need any particular description. Its young branches, flowers, and seeds, after maceration in water, yield a volatile oil which is chemically identical with that of the bitter almond. The flowers are laxative, and have been used instead of manna. When distilled, they furnish a white liquor which communicates a flavour resembling the kernels of fruits. An infusion made from one drachm of the dried flowers, or from half an ounce of the fresh flowers, has a purgative effect. The fruit is wholesome, and seldom disagrees if eaten when ripe and sound. Its quantity of sugar is only small, but the skin is indigestible.

The leaves possess the power of expelling worms if applied outside a child's belly as a poultice, but in any medicinal form they must be used with caution, as they contain some of the properties of prussic acid, as found [419] also in the leaves of the laurel. A syrup of Peach flowers was formerly a preparation recognised by apothecaries. The leaves infused in white brandy, sweetened with barley sugar, make a fine cordial similar to noyeau. Soyer says the old Romans gave as much for their peaches as eighteen or nineteen shillings each.

Peach pie, owing to the abundance of the fruit, is as common fare in an American farm-house, as apple pie in an English homestead. Our English King John died at Swinestead Abbey from a surfeit of peaches, and new ale.

A tincture made from the flowers will allay the pain of colic caused by gravel; but the kernels of the fruit, which yield an oil identical with that of bitter almonds, have produced poisonous effects with children.

Gerard teaches "that a syrup or strong infusion of Peach flowers doth singularly well purge the belly, and yet without grief or trouble." Two tablespoonfuls of the infusion for a dose.

In Sicily there is a belief that anyone afflicted with goitre, who eats a