Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure Part 19

The Scotch leek is more hardy and pungent than that [222] grown in England. It was formerly a favourite ingredient in the c.o.c.k-a-Leekie soup of Caledonia, which is so graphically described by Sir Walter Scott, in the _Fortunes of Nigel_.

A "Herby" pie, peculiar to Cornwall, is made of leeks and pilchards, or of nettles, pepper cress, parsley, mustard, and spinach, with thin slices of pork. At the bottom of the Squab pie mentioned before was a Squab, or young Cormorant, "which diffused," says Charles Kingsley, "through the pie, and through the ambient air, a delicate odour of mingled guano and polecat." That "lovers live by love, as larks by leeks," is an old saying; and in the cla.s.sic story of Pyramus and Thisbe, reference is made to the beautiful emerald green which the leaves of the leek exhibit. "His eyes were as green as leeks."

Among the Welsh farmers, it is a neighbourly custom to attend on a certain day and plough the land of a poor proprietor whose means are limited--each bringing with him one or more leeks for making the soup or broth.

The _Schalot_, or _Eschalotte_, is another variety of the onion tribe, which was introduced into England by the Crusaders, who found it growing at Ascalon. And Chives (_Allium schoenoprasum_) are an ever green perennial herb of the onion tribe, having only a mild, alliaceous flavour. Epicures consider the Schalot to be the best seasoning for beef steaks, either by taking the actual bulb, or by rubbing the plates therewith.

Again, as a most common plant in all our hedgerows, is found the Poor Man's Garlic, or Sauce-alone (_Erisymum alliaria_), from _eruo_, to cure, a somewhat coa.r.s.e and most ordinary member of the onion tribe, which goes also by the names of "Jack by the hedge" and "Garlick-wort," and belongs to the cruciferous order [223] of plants. When bruised, it gives out a strong smell of garlic, and when eaten by cows it makes their milk taste powerfully of onions. The Ancients, says John Evelyn, used "Jack by the hedge"

as a succedaneum to their Scordium, or cultivated Garlic.

This herb grows luxuriantly, bearing green, s.h.i.+ning, heart-shaped leaves, and headpieces of small, white-flowering bunches. It was named "Saucealone," from being eaten in the Springtime with meat, whilst having so strong a flavour of onions, that it served alone of itself for sauce. Perhaps (says Dr. Prior) the t.i.tle "Jack by the hedge" is derived from "jack," or "jakes," an old English word denoting a privy, or house of office, and this in allusion to the fetid smell of the plant, and the usual place of its growth.

When gathered and eaten with boiled mutton, after having been first separately boiled, it makes an excellent vegetable, if picked as it approaches the flowering state. Formerly this herb was highly valued as an antis...o...b..tic, and was thought a most desirable pot herb.

(The _Erysimum officinale_ (Hedge Mustard) and the _Vervain_ (Verbena) make Count Mattaei's empirical nostrum _Febrifugo_: but this _Erysimum_ is not the same plant as the Jack by the hedge.)

GOOSEBERRY.

The Gooseberry (_Ribes grossularia_) gets its name from _krusbar_, which signifies a cross, in allusion to the triple spine of the fruit or berry, which is commonly cruciform. This is a relic of its first floral days, preserved like the ap.r.o.n of the blacksmith at Persia, when he came to the throne. The term _grossularia_ implies a resemblance of the fruit to _grossuli_, small unripe figs.

[224] Frequently the shrub, which belongs to the same natural order as the Currant (_Ribes_), grows wild in the hedges and thickets of our Eastern counties, bearing then only a small, poor berry, and not supposed to be of native origin.

In East Anglia it is named Fabe, Feap, Thape, or Theab berry, probably by reason of a mistake which arose through an incorrect picture. The Melon, in a well-known book of Tabernaemonta.n.u.s, was figured to look like a large gooseberry, and was headed, _Pfebe_. And this name was supposed by some wiseacre to be that of the gooseberry, and thus became attached to the said fruit.

Loudon thinks it signifies Feverberry, because of the cooling properties possessed by the gooseberry, which is scarcely probable.

In Norfolk, the green, unripe fruit is called Thape, and the schoolboys in that county well know Thape pie, made from green Gooseberries. The French call the fruit _Groseille_, and the Scotch, Grosert. It contains, chemically, citric acid, pectose, gum, sugar, cellulose, alb.u.men, mineral matter, and water. The quant.i.ty of flesh-forming const.i.tuents is insignificant. Its pectose, under heat, makes a capital jelly.

In this country, the Gooseberry was first cultivated at the time of the Reformation, and it grows better in Great Britain than elsewhere, because of the moist climate. The original fruit occurred of the hairy sort, like Esau, as the _Uva crispa_ of Fuschius, in Henry the Eighth's reign; and there are now red, white, and yellow cultivated varieties of the berry.

When green and unripe, Gooseberries are employed in a sauce, together with bechamel, and aromatic spices, this being taken with mackerel and other rich fish, as an acid corrective condiment. Also, from the juice of the [225] green fruit, "which cureth all inflammations," may be concocted an excellent vinegar.

Gooseberry-fool, which comes to our tables so acceptably in early summer, consists of the unripe fruit _foule_ (that is, crushed or beaten up) with cream and milk. Similarly the French have a _foule des pommes_, and a_ foule des raisins_. To "play old Gooseberry"

with another man's property is conjectured to mean smas.h.i.+ng it up, and reducing it, as it were, to Gooseberry-fool.

The young and tender leaves of the shrub, if eaten raw in a salad; drive forth the gravel. And from the red Gooseberry may be prepared an excellent light jelly, which is beneficial for sedentary, plethoric, and bilious subjects. This variety of the fruit, whether hairy or smooth, is grown largely in Scotland, but in France it is little cared for.

The yellow Gooseberry is richer and more vinous of taste, suiting admirably, when of the smooth sort, for making Gooseberry wine; which is choice, sparkling, and wholesome, such as that wherewith Goldsmith's popular _Vicar of Wakefield_ used to regale Farmer Flamborough and the blind piper, having "lost neither the recipe nor the reputation." They were soothed in return by the touching ballads of _Johnny Armstrong's Last Good Night_, and _Cruel Barbara Allen_.

Gooseberry Shows are held annually in Lancas.h.i.+re, and excite keen compet.i.tion; but after exhibition, the successful berries are "topped and tailed," so as to disqualify them from being shown elsewhere.

Southey, in _The Doctor_, speaks about an obituary notice in a former Manchester newspaper, of a man who "bore a severe illness with Christian fort.i.tude, and was much esteemed among Gooseberry growers." Prizes are given for the [226] biggest and heaviest berries, which are produced with immense pains as to manuring, and the growth of cool chickweed around the roots of the bushes. At the same time each promising berry is kept submerged in a shallow vessel of water placed beneath it so as to compel absorption of moisture, and thus to enlarge its size. Whimsical names, such as "Golden Lion," "The Jolly Angler," and "Crown Bob," etc., are bestowed on the prize fruit. Cuttings from the parent plant of a prize Gooseberry become in great request; and thus the pedigree scions of a single bush have been known to yield as much as thirty-two pounds sterling to their possessor. The _Gooseberry Book_ is a regular Manchester annual.

A berry weighing as heavy as thirty-seven penny-weight has been exhibited; and a story is told of a Middleton weaver, who, when a thunder-storm was gathering, lay awake as if for his life, and at the first patter of rain against the window panes, rushed to the rescue of his Gooseberry bushes with his bed quilt. Green Gooseberries will help to abate the strange longings which sometimes beset pregnant women.

In Devon the rustics call Gooseberries "Deberries," and in Suss.e.x they are familiarly known to village lads as Goosegogs.

An Irish cure for warts is to p.r.i.c.k them with a Gooseberry thorn pa.s.sed through a wedding ring.

By some subtle bodily action wrought through a suggestion made to the mind, warts undoubtedly disappear as the result of this and many another equally trivial proceeding; which being so, why not the more serious skin affections, and larger morbid growths?

The poet Southey wrote a _Pindaric Ode upon a Gooseberry_ [227]

Pie, beginning "Gooseberry Pie is best," with the refrain:--

"And didst thou scratch thy tender arms, Oh, Jane I that I should dine"?

GOOSEFOOT.

Among Curative Simples, the Goosefoot, or Chenopod order of British plants, contributes two useful herbs, the _Chenopodium bonus Henricus_ (Good King Henry), and the _Chenopodium v.u.l.v.aria_ (Stinking Goosefoot).

This tribe derives its distinctive t.i.tle from the Greek words, _cheen_, a goose, and _pous_, a foot, in allusion to the resemblance borne by its leaves to the webbed members of that waddling bird which raw recruits are wont to bless for their irksome drill of the goose-step. Incidentally, it may be said that goosegrease, got from the roasted bird, is highly emollient, and very useful in clysters; it also proves easily emetic.

The Goosefoot herbs are common weeds in most temperate climates, and grow chiefly in salt marshes, or on the sea-sh.o.r.e. Other plants of this tribe are esculent vegetables, as the Spinach, Beet, and Orach. They all afford "soda" in abundance.

The _Good King Henry_ (Goosefoot) grows abundantly in waste places near villages, being a dark green, succulent plant, about a foot high, with thickish arrow-shaped leaves, which are cooked as spinach, especially in Lincolns.h.i.+re. It is sometimes called Blite, from the Greek _bliton_, insipid; and, as Evelyn says, in his _Acetaria_, "it is well named, being insipid enough."

Why the said Goosefoot has been named "Good King Henry," or, "Good King Harry," is a disputed point. A French writer declares "this humble plant which grows on our plains without culture will confer a more lasting [228] duration on the memory of _Henri Quatre_ than the statue of bronze placed on the Pont Neuf, though fenced with iron, and guarded by soldiers." Dodoeus says the appellation was given to distinguish the plant from another, a poisonous one, called _Malus Henricus_, "Bad Henry." Other authors have referred it to our Harry the Eighth, and his sore legs, for which the leaves were applied as a remedy; but this idea does not seem of probable correctness. Frowde tells us "the constant irritation of his festering legs made his terrible temper still more dreadful. Warned of his approaching dissolution; and consumed with the death-thirst, he called for a cup of white wine, and, turning to one of his attendants; cried, 'All is lost!'--and these were his last words." The substantive t.i.tle, _Henricus_, is more likely derived from "heinrich," an elf or goblin, as indicating certain magical virtues in the herb.

It is further known as English Marquery, or Mercury, and _Tota bona_; or, Allgood, the latter from a conceit of the rustics that it will cure all hurts; "wherefore the leaves are now a constant plaster among them for every green wound." It bears small flowers of sepals only, and is grown by cottagers as a pot herb. The young shoots peeled and boiled may be eaten as asparagus, and are gently laxative. The leaves are often made into broth, being applied also externally by country folk to heal old ulcers; and the roots are given to sheep having a cough.

Both here and in Germany this Goosefoot is used for feeding poultry, and it has hence acquired the sobriquet of Fat-hen.

The term, English Mercury, has been given because of its excellent remedial qualities against indigestion, and bears out the proverb: "Be thou sick or whole, put [229] Mercury in thy koole." Poultices made from the herb are applied to cleanse and heal chronic sores, which, as Gerard teaches, "they do scour and mundify." Certain writers a.s.sociate it with our _good_ King Henry the Sixth. There is made in America, from an allied plant, the oak-leaved Goosefoot (_Chenopodium glauc.u.m_), or from the aphis which infests it, a medicinal tincture used for expelling round worms.

The Stinking Goosefoot, called therefore, _v.u.l.v.aria_, and _Garosmus_, grows often on roadsides in England, and is known as Dog's Orach. It is of a dull, glaucous, or greyish-green aspect, and invested with a greasy mealiness which when touched exhales a very odious and enduring smell like that of stale salt fish, this being particularly attractive to dogs, though swine refuse the plant. It has been found very useful in hysteria, the leaves being made into a conserve with sugar; or Dr. Fuller's famous _Electuarium hysteric.u.m_ may be compounded by adding forty-eight drops of oil of amber (_Oleum succini_) to four ounces of the conserve. Then a piece of the size of a chestnut should be taken when needed, and repeated more or less often as required. It further promotes the monthly flow of women. But the herb is possessed _odoris virosi intolerabilis_, of a stink which remains long on the hands after touching it. The whole plant is sprinkled over with the white, pellucid meal, and contains much "trimethylamine," together with osmazome, and nitrate of potash; also it gives off free ammonia.

The t.i.tle, Orach, given to the Stinking Goosefoot, a simple of a "most ancient, fish-like smell," and to others of the same tribe, is a corruption of _aurum_, gold, because their seeds were supposed to cure the ailment known popularly as the "yellow jaundice." These plants afford no nutriment, [230] and, therefore, each bears the name, _atriplex_, not, _trephein_, to nourish:--

"Atriplicem tritum c.u.m nitro, melle, et aceto Dic.u.n.t appositum calidum sedare podagram _Ictericis_ dicitque Galenus tollere morb.u.m Illius s.e.m.e.n c.u.m vino saepius haustum."

"With vinegar, honey, and salt, the Orach Made hot, and applied, cures a gouty attack; Whilst its seeds for the jaundice, if mingled with wine, --As Galen has said--are a remedy fine."

"Orach is cooling," writes Evelyn, "and allays the pituit humors."

"Being set over the fire, neither this nor the lettuce needs any other water than their own moisture to boil them in." The Orach hails from Tartary, and is much esteemed in France. It was introduced about 1548.

GOOSEGRa.s.s.

"Goosey, goosey, gander, whither do ye wander?" says an old nursery rhyme by way of warning to the silly waddling birds not to venture into hedgerows, else will they become helplessly fettered by the tough, straggling coils of the Clivers, Goosegra.s.s, or, Hedgeheriff, growing so freely there, and a sad despoiler of feathers.

The medicinal Goosegra.s.s (_Galium aparine_), which is a highly useful curative Simple, springs up luxuriantly about fields and waste places in most English districts. It belongs to the Rubiaceous order of plants, all of which have a root like madder, affording a red dye.

This hardy Goosegra.s.s climbs courageously by its slender, hairy stems through the dense vegetation of our hedges into open daylight, having sharp, serrated leaves, and producing small white flowers, "pearking on the tops of the sprigs." It is one of the Bedstraw tribe, and bears [231] a number of popular t.i.tles, such as Cleavers, c.l.i.thers, Robin run in the gra.s.s, Burweed, Loveman, Gooseherriff, Mutton chops, c.l.i.te, Clide, c.l.i.theren, and Goosebill, from the sharp, serrated leaves, like the rough-edged mandibles of a goose.

Its stalks and leaves are covered with little hooked bristles, which attach themselves to pa.s.sing objects, and by which it fastens itself in a ladder-like manner to adjacent shrubs, so as to push its way upwards in the hedgerows.

Goosegra.s.s has obtained the sobriquet of Beggar's lice, from clinging closely to the garments of pa.s.sers by, as well as because the small burs resemble these disgusting vermin; again it is known to some as Harriff, or, Erriff, from the Anglo-Saxon "hedge rife," a taxgather, or robber, because it plucks the wool from the sheep as they pa.s.s through a hedge; also Grip-gra.s.s, Catchweed, and Scratchweed. Furthermore, this Bedstraw has been called Goose-grease, from a mistaken belief that obstructive ailments of geese can be cured therewith. It is really a fact that goslings are extremely fond of the herb.

The botanical name, _Aparine_, bears the same meaning, being derived from the Greek verb, _apairo_, to lay hold of. The generic term, _Galium_, comes from the Greek word _gala_, milk, which the herb was formerly employed to curdle, instead of rennet.