Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure Part 10

A modern medicinal tincture (H.) is made from the root-stock with spirit of wine; and ten drops of this should be taken three or four times a day with a tablespoonful of cold water. French nurses treat cracked nipples by applying a hollow section of the fresh root over the sore caruncle; and a decoction of the root made by boiling from two to four drachms in a pint of water, is given for bleedings from the lungs or bladder.

The name _Consound_, owned by the Common Comfrey, was given likewise to the daisy and the bugle, in the middle ages. "It joyeth," says Gerard, "in watery ditches, in fat and fruitful meadows." A solve concocted from the fresh herb will certainly tend to promote the healing of bruised and broken parts, suggesting as an appropriate motto for the salve box: "Behold how good and pleasant a thing it is to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment which ran down Aaron's beard." Some foreknowledge [122] of the Comfrey perhaps inspired the Prophet Isaiah to predict that after a time "the heart should rejoice and the bones flourish like a herb." The Poet Laureate tells of

"This, the Consound, Whereby the lungs are eased of their grief."

About a century ago, the _p.r.i.c.kly Comfrey_--a variety of our Consound--was naturalised in this country from the Caucasus, and has since proved itself amazingly productive to farmers, as, when cultivated, it will grow six crops in the year; and the plant is both preventive and curative of foot and mouth disease in cattle. It bears flowers of a rich blue colour.

From our Common Comfrey a sort of glue is got in Angora, which is used for spinning the famous fleeces of that country. Mr.

c.o.c.kayne relates that the locksman at Teddington informed him how the bone of his little finger being broken, was grinding and grunching so sadly for two months, that sometimes he felt quite wrong in his head. One day he saw a doctor go by, and told him about the distress. The doctor said: "You see that Comfrey growing there? Take a piece of its root, and champ it, and put it about your finger, and wrap it up." The man did so, and in four days his finger was well.

CORIANDER.

Coriander comfits, sold by the confectioner as admirably warming to the stomach, and corrective of flatulence, consist of small aromatic seeds coated with white sugar. These are produced by the Coriander, an umbelliferous herb cultivated in England from early times for medicinal and culinary uses, though introduced at first from the Mediterranean. It has now [123] become wild as an escape, growing freely in our fields and waste places. Farmers produce it, especially about Ess.e.x, under the name of Col, the crops being mown down when ripe, and the fruits being then thrashed out to procure the seeds. The generic name has been derived from _koros_, a bug; alluding to the stinking odour of the bruised leaves, though these, when dried, are fragrant, and pleasant of smell. In some countries, as Egypt and Peru, they are taken in soups. The seeds are cordial, but become narcotic if used too freely. When distilled with water they yield a yellow essential oil of a very aromatic and strong odour.

Coriander water was formerly much esteemed as a carminative for windy colic. Being so aromatic and comfortably stimulating, the fruit is commended for aiding the digestion of savoury pastry, and to correct the griping tendencies of such medicines as senna and rhubarb. It contains malic acid, tannin, the special volatile oil of the herb, and some fatty matter.

Distillers of gin make use of this fruit, and veterinary surgeons employ it as a drug for cattle and horses. Alston says, "The green herb--seeds and all--stinks intolerably of bugs"; and Hoffman admonishes, "_Si largius sumptura fuerit s.e.m.e.n non sine periculo e sua sede et statu demovet, et qui sumpsere varia dictu pudenda blaterant_." The fruits are blended with curry powder, and are chosen to flavour several liquors. By the Chinese a power of conferring immortality is thought to be possessed by the seeds.

From a pa.s.sage in the Book of Numbers where manna is likened to Coriander seed, it would seem that this seed was familiar to the Israelites and used by them for domestic purposes. Robert Turner says when taken in wine it stimulates the animal pa.s.sions.

[124] COWSLIP.

Our English pastures and meadows, especially where the soil is of blue lias clay, become brilliantly gay, "with gaudy cowslips drest,"

quite early in the spring. But it is a mistake to suppose that these flowers are a favourite food with cows, who, in fact, never eat them if they can help it. The name Cowslip is really derived, says Dr. Prior, from the Flemish words, _kous loppe_, meaning "hose flap," a humble part of woollen nether garments. But Skeat thinks it arose from the fact that the plant was supposed to spring up where a patch of cow dung had fallen.

Originally, the Mullein--which has large, oval, woolly leaves-- and the Cowslip were included under one common Latin name, _Verbasc.u.m_; for which reason the attributes of the Mullein still remain accredited by mistake to the second plant. Former medical writers called the Cowslip _herba paralysis_, or, "palsywort,"

because of its supposed efficacy in relieving paralysis. The whole plant is known to be gently narcotic and somniferous. Pope praised the herb and its flowers on account of their sedative qualities:--

"For want of rest, Lettuce and Cowslip wine--_Probatum est_."

Whilst Coleridge makes his _Christabel_ declare with reference to the fragrant brew concocted from its petals, with lemons and sugar:--

"It is a wine of virtuous powers, My mother made it of wild flowers."

Physicians for the last two centuries have used the powdered roots of the Cowslip (and the Primrose) for wakefulness, hysterical attacks, and muscular rheumatism; and the cowslip root was named of old both [124] _radix paralyseos_, and _radix arthritica_.

This root, and the flowers, have an odour of anise, which is due to their containing some volatile oil identical with mannite. Their more acrid principle is "saponin." Hill tells us that when boiled in ale, the roots are taken by country persons for giddiness, with no little success. "They be likewise in great request among those that use to hunt after goats and roebucks on high mountains, for the strengthening of the head when they pa.s.s by fearful precipices and steep places, in following their game, so that giddiness and swimming of the brain may not seize upon them."

The dose of the dried and powdered flowers is from fifteen to twenty grains. A syrup of a fine yellow colour may also be made from the petals, which answers the same purposes. Three pounds of the fresh blossoms should be infused in five pints of boiling water, and then simmered down to a proper consistence with sugar.

Herbals of the Elizabethan date, say that an ointment made from cowslip flowers "taketh away the spots and wrinkles of the skin, and doth add beauty exceedingly, as divers ladies, gentlewomen, and she citizens--whether wives or widows--know well enough."

The tiny people were then supposed to be fond of nestling in the drooping bells of Cowslips, and hence the flowers were called fairy cups; and, in accordance with the doctrine of signatures, they were thought effective for removing freckles from the face.

"In their gold coats spots you see, These be rubies: fairy favours.

In these freckles live their savours."

The cl.u.s.ter of blossoms on a single stalk sometimes bears the name of "lady's keys" or "St. Peter's wort," either because it resembles a bunch of keys as St. [126] Peter's badge, or because as _primula veris_ it unlocks the treasures of spring.

Cowslip flowers are frequently done up by playful children into b.a.l.l.s, which they call tisty tosty, or simply a tosty. For this purpose the umbels of blossoms fully blown are strung closely together, and tied into a firm ball.

The leaves were at one time eaten in salad, and mixed with other herbs to stuff meat, whilst the flowers were made into a delicate conserve.

Yorks.h.i.+re people call this plant the Cowstripling; and in Devons.h.i.+re, where it is scarcely to be found, because of the red marl, it has come about that the foxglove goes by the name of Cowslip. Again, in some provincial districts, the Cowslip is known as Petty Mullein, and in others as Paigle (Palsywort). The old English proverb, "As blake as a paigle," means, "As yellow as a cowslip."

One word may be said here in medicinal favour of the poor cow, whose a.s.sociation with the flower now under discussion has been so unceremoniously disproved. The breath and smell of this sweet-odoured animal are thought in Flints.h.i.+re to be good against consumption.

Henderson tells of a blacksmith's apprentice who was restored to health when far advanced in a decline, by taking the milk of cows fed in a kirkyard. In the south of Hamps.h.i.+re, a useful plaster of fresh cow-dung is applied to open wounds. And even in its evolutionary development, the homely animal reads us a lesson; for _Dat Deus immiti cornua curta bovi_, says the Latin proverb--"Savage cattle have only short horns." So was it in "the House that Jack built," where the fretful creature that tossed the dog had but one horn, and this grew crumpled.

[127] CRESSES.

The Cress of the herbalist is a noun of mult.i.tude: it comprises several sorts, differing in kind but possessing the common properties of wholesomeness and pungency. Here "order in variety we see"; and here, "though all things differ, all agree." The name is thought by some to be derived from the Latin verb _crescere_, to grow fast.

Each kind of Cress belongs to the Cruciferous genus of plants; whence comes, perhaps, the common name The several varieties of Cress are stimulating and anti-s...o...b..tic, whilst each contains a particular essential principle, of acrid flavour, and of sharp biting qualities. The whole tribe is termed _lepidium_, or "siliquose,"

scaly, with reference to the shape of the seed-pouches. It includes "Land Cress (formerly dedicated to St. Barbara); Broad-leaved Cress (or the Poor-man's pepper); Penny Cress (_thlapsus_); Garden, or Town Cress; and the well known edible Water Cress."

Formerly the Greeks attached much value to the whole order of Cresses, which they thought very beneficial to the brain. A favourite maxim with them was, "Eat Cresses, and get wit."

In England these plants have long been cultivated as a source of profit; whence arose the saying that a graceless fellow is not worth a "kurse" or cress--in German, _kers_. Thus Chaucer speaks about a character in the _Canterbury Tales_, "Of paramours ne fraught he not a kers." But some writers have referred this saying rather to the wild cherry or kerse, making it of the same significance as our common phrase, "Not worth a fig."

As Curative Herbal Simples we need only consider the Garden or Town Cress, and the Water Cress: whilst regarding the other varieties rather as condiments, and [128] salad herbs to be taken by way of pleasant wholesome appetisers at table. These aromatic herbs were employed to season the homely dishes of our forefathers, before commerce had brought the spices of the East at a cheap rate to our doors; and Cresses were held in common favour by peasants for such a purpose. The black, or white pepper of to-day, was then so costly that "to promise a saint yearly a pound of it was considered a liberal bequest." And therefore the leaves of wild Cresses were eaten as a subst.i.tute for giving pungency to the food. Remarkable among these was the _Dittander Sativus_, a species found chiefly near the sea, with foliage so hot and acrid, that the plant then went by the name of "Poor-man's Pepper," or "Pepper Wort." Pliny said, "It is of the number of scorching and blistering Simples." "This herbe," says Lyte, "is fondly and unlearnedly called in English Dittany. It were better in following the Dutchmen to name it Pepperwort."

The _Garden Cress_, called _Sativum_ (from _satum_, a pasture), is the sort commonly coupled with the herb Mustard in our familiar "Mustard and Cress." It has been grown in England since the middle of the sixteenth century, and its other name _Town_ Cress refers to its cultivation in "tounes," or enclosures. It was also known as Pa.s.serage; from _pa.s.ser_, to drive away--rage, or madness, because of its reputed power to expel hydrophobia. "This Garden Cress," said Wm. Coles in his _Paradise of Plants_, 1650, "being green, and therefore more qualified by reason of its humidity, is eaten by country people, either alone with b.u.t.ter, or with lettice and purslane, in Sallets, or otherwise."

It contains sulphur, and a special ardent volatile medicinal oil. The small leaves combined with those of [129] our white garden Mustard are excellent against rheumatism and gout. Likewise it is a preventive of scurvy by reason of its mineral salts. In which salutary respects the twin plants, Mustard and Cress, are happily consorted, and well play a capital common part, like the "two single gentlemen rolled into one" of George Colman, the younger.

The _Water Cress_ (_Nasturtium officinale_) is among cresses, to use an American simile, the "finest toad in the puddle." This is because of its superlative medicinal worth, and its great popularity at table. Early writers called the herb "Shamrock," and common folk now-a-days term it the "Stertion." Zenophon advised the Persians to feed their children on Water-cresses (_kardamon esthie_) that they might grow in stature and have active minds.

The Latin name _Nasturtium_ was given to the Watercress because of its volatile pungency when bruised and smelt; from _nasus_, a nose, and _tortus_, turned away, it being so to say, "a herb that wriths or twists the nose." For the same reason it is called _Nasitord_ in France. When bruised its leaves affect the eyes and nose almost like mustard. They have been usefully applied to the scald head and tetters of children. In New Zealand the stems grow as thick as a man's wrist, and nearly choke some of the rivers. Like an oyster, the Water-cress is in proper season only when there is an "r" in the month.

According to an a.n.a.lysis made recently in the School of Pharmacy at Paris, the Water-cress contains a sulpho-nitrogenous oil, iodine, iron, phosphates, potash, certain other earthy salts, a bitter extract, and water. Its volatile oil which is rich in nitrogen and sulphur (problematical) is the sulpho-cyanide of allyl. Anyhow [130] there is much sulphur possessed by the whole plant in one form or another, together with a considerable quant.i.ty of mineral matter.

Thus the popular plant is so const.i.tuted as to be particularly curative of scrofulous affections, especially in the spring time, when the bodily humours are on the ferment. Dr. King Chambers writes (_Diet in Health and Disease_), "I feel sure that the infertility, pallor, fetid breath, and bad teeth which characterise some of our town populations are to a great extent due to their inability to get fresh anti-s...o...b..tic vegetables as articles of diet: therefore I regard the Water-cress seller as one of the saviours of her country." Culpeper said pithily long ago: "They that will live in health may eat Water-cress if they please; and if they won't, I cannot help it."

The scrofula to which the Water-cress and its allied plants are antidotal, got its name from _scrofa_, "a burrowing pig,"

signifying the radical destruction of important glands in the body by this undermining const.i.tutional disease. Possibly the quaint lines which nurses have long been given to repeat for the amus.e.m.e.nt of babies while fondling their infantine fingers bear a hidden meaning which pointedly imports the scrofulous taint. This nursery distich, as we remember, personates the fingers one by one as five little fabulous pigs:--the first small piggy doesn't feel well; and the second one threatens the doctor to tell; the third little pig has to linger at home; and the fourth small porker of meat has none; then the fifth little pig, with a querulous note, cries "weak, weak, weak" from its poor little throat.

"oegrotat multis doloribus porculus ille: Ille rogat fratri medic.u.m proferre salutem: Debilis ille domi mansit vet.i.tus abire; Carnem digessit nunquam miser porculus ille; 'Eheu!' ter repetens, 'eheu!' perporculus, 'eheu!'

Vires exiguas luget plorante susurro."

[131] On account of its medicinal const.i.tuents the herb has been deservedly extolled as a specific remedy for tubercular consumption of the lungs. Haller says: "We have seen patients in deep declines cured by living almost entirely on this plant;" and it forms the chief ingredient of the _Sirop Antis...o...b..tique _given so successfully by the French faculty in scrofula and other allied diseases. Its active principles are at their best when the plant is in flower; and the amount of essential oil increases according to the quant.i.ty of sunlight which the leaves obtain, the proportion of iron being determined according to the quality of the water, and the measure of phosphates by the supply of dressing afforded. The leaves remain green when grown in the shade, but become of a purple brown because of their iron when exposed to the sun. The expressed juice, which contains the peculiar taste and pungency of the herb, may be taken in doses of from one to two fluid ounces at each of the three princ.i.p.al meals, and it should always be had fresh. When combined with the juice of Scurvy gra.s.s and of Seville oranges it makes the popular antis...o...b..tic medicine known as "Spring juices."

A Water-cress cataplasm applied cold in a single layer, and with a pinch of salt sprinkled thereupon makes a most useful poultice to heal foul scrofulous ulcers; and will also help to resolve glandular swellings.

Water-cresses squeezed and laid against warts were said by the Saxon leeches to work a certain cure on these excrescences. In France the Water-cress is dipped in oil and vinegar to be eaten at table with chicken or a steak. The Englishman takes it at his morning or evening meal, with bread and b.u.t.ter, or at dinner in a salad. It loses some of its pungent flavour and of its curative qualities [132] when cultivated; and therefore it is more appetising and useful when freshly gathered from natural streams. But these streams ought to be free from contamination by sewage matter, or any drainage which might convey the germs of fever, or other blood poison: for, as we are admonished, the Water-cress plant acts as a brush in impure running brooks to detain around its stalks and leaves any dirty disease-bringing flocculi.

Some of our leading druggists now make for medicinal use a liquid extract of the _Nasturtium officinale_, and a spirituous juice (or _succus_) of the plant. These preparations are of marked service in s...o...b..tic cases, where weakness exists without wasting, and often with spongy gums, or some skin eruption. They are best when taken with lemon juice.