The Book of Herbs by Rosalind Northcote (christmas read aloud txt) 📕

cream, relieves inflammation and particularly the irritation which follows vaccination in an arm “taking beautifully.” Probatum est. Penny-pies or Penny-wort (Cotyledon Umbilicus) is said to be equally efficacious, especially used with cream, and when simmered with the “sides of the pan,” have been known to heal, where linseed poultices failed to do good. When the leaf of Penny-wort is applied to a wound, one side draws, the other side heals. Wormwood is often in request by brewers. Marigold-tea is a widely administered remedy for the measles, and is one of the few remedies which everybody seems to know. Very often families appear to have their own special formula, and even where the chief herbs in different prescriptions to relieve the same ailment are identical, the lesser herbs vary. Saffron was also recommended for measles; both probably on the “Doctrine of Colour Analogy” referred to the rash. An old Herbalist told me that he considered Marigolds nearly as good as Saffron and “more home-grown, so to speak.” Dr Primrose, a physician in the reign of Charles II., who wrote a book on “Popular Errors in Physick,” inveighs against the custom then in vogue of covering “the sick [with measles or small-pox] with red cloaths, for they are thought by the affinitie of the colour to draw the blood out to them, or at least some suppose that it is done by force of imagination. And not onely the people, but also very many physicians use them.” Marigold-tea is at anyrate a better survival as “treatment” than this system! Meadow-Saffron is still officinal, and is well known in the form it is usually dispensed, Tincture of Colchicum. Broom has a place in the pharmacopœia, and is also a popular remedy. Furze is not officinal, but a preparation made from it, Ulexine, is mentioned in a well-known medical dictionary. An infusion of Furze-blossom used to be given to children to drink in scarlet fever. Camomile is officinal, and the great authority, Dr Schimmelbusch recently recommended it as a mouth-wash, for disinfecting the muscous membrane after cases of operation in the mouth. In a fomentation Camomile heads are a recognised anodyne; and Wild Camomile and Red Pimpernel are given locally for asthma, it is said, with great success. Boy’s love, (Southernwood), Plantain leaves, Black Currant leaves, Elder buds, Angelica and Parsley, chopped, pounded, and simmered with clarified butter, make an ointment for burns or raw surfaces. A maker of this particular ointment near Exeter, died a year or two ago, but up to her death it was much in request. Butter is always better for making ointments than lard, because cows feed on herbs, and all herbs are good for something. Sage poultices and sage gargle are very good for sore throats, better than some of the gargles that “the gentlemen” prescribe (so a Herbalist told me), and red sage is better than green. Rosemary has long been celebrated for making the hair grow. Water-cress is very good for the blood, and the expressed juice has been known to prove a wonderful cure for rheumatism. A lady told me of a case she knew in Berkshire, where a man was absolutely crippled till he tried this remedy, and afterwards quite recovered his power to move and a very good degree of strength. Water-cress was one of the plants from which Count Mattei extracted his vegetable electricity. Parsley, freshly gathered and laid on the forehead is good for a headache, and if put in a fold of muslin and laid across inflamed eyes, it is said to be beneficial. Endive tea is cooling and is given to “fever” patients, and the dry leaves of lovage infused in white wine were good for ague. An infusion of Raspberry leaves, Agrimony, and Barberry-bark was good for consumptive patients, and Cowslip and Cucumber were made into a wash to make the complexion “splendent,” to use an old expression. Coltsfoot is still given for coughs; Sweet Marjoram was administered for dropsy, Alderberries for boils; Arb-Rabbit (Herb-Robert) made into poultices for “inflammation;” Brook-lime, given for St Anthony’s Fire, and Brown Nut, made into a decoction, was taken hot just before going to bed, for a cold. Groundsel, Docks, Hay-Maids (Ground-Ivy), Feather-Few, Chicken-Weed, Hedge-Garlic or Hedge-Mustard, I have also heard recommended at different times. The Blessed Thistle is a useless ingredient in a good herb-ointment for burns. Amongst the last named plants are several not strictly to be called “herbs,” but they and others I shall mention are “simples,” and as such they fitly find a place among medicinal herbs. Foxglove and Belladonna, of course, are among the most important drugs in the Pharmacopœia, and both the fruits and leaves of Hemlock have also a place there. Foxglove, called in Devonshire, Cowflop, is recommended as an application to heal sores, and one woman told me that it should always be gathered on the north side of the hedge. It is interesting to note that the Italians have a proverb, “Aralda, tutte piaghe salda” (Foxglove heals all sores). Cliders (Goose-grass, Galium aparine) was much given for tumours and cancers, and is praised by other than merely village sages. Dr Fernie quotes the testimony of several doctors who used it with success, and adds, “some of our trading druggists now furnish curative preparations made from the fresh herb.”