Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure | Page 4

first undergone a gradual impairment of health because of calcareous matters to excess in their general conditions of sustenance; and the lime proves potent to cure in the offspring what, through the parental surfeit, was entailed as [xvii] a heritage of disease. Just in the same way the mineral waters of Missisquoi, and Bethesda, in America, through containing siliceous qualities so sublimated as almost to defy the analyst, are effective to cure cancer, albuminuria, and other organic complaints.
Nor is this by any means a new policy of cure. Its barbaric practice has long since obtained, even in African wilds, where the native snake doctor inoculates with his prepared snake poison to save the life of a victim otherwise fatally bitten by another snake of the same deadly virus. To Ovid, of Roman fame (20 B.C.), the same sanative axiom was also indisputably known as we learn from his lines:--
"Tunc observatas augur descendit in herbas; Usus et auxilio est anguis ab angue dato."
"Then searched the Augur low mid grass close scanned For snake to heal a snake-envenomed hand."
And with equal cogency other arguments, which are manifold, might be readily adduced, as of congruous force, to vindicate our claim in favour of analytical knowledge over blind experience in the methods of Herbal cure, especially if this be pursued on the broad lines of enlightened practice by similars.
So now, to be brief, and to change our allegory, "on the banks of the Nile," as Mrs. Malaprop would have pervertingly put it, with "a nice [xviii] derangement of epitaphs," we invite our many guests to a simple "dinner of herbs." Such was man's primitive food in Paradise: "every green herb bearing seed, and every tree in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed:" "the green herb for meat for every beast of the earth, and every fowl of the air." What better Preface can we indite than a grace to be said before sitting down to the meal? "Sallets," it is hoped, will be found "in the lines to make the matter savoury." Far be it from our object to preach a prelude of texts, or to weary those at our board I with a meaningless long benediction. "'Tis not so plain as the old Hill of Howth," said tender-hearted witty Tom Hood, with serio-comic truth, "a man has got his belly full of meat, because he talks with victuals in his mouth." Rather would we choose the "russet Yeas and honest kersey Noes" of sturdy yeoman speech; and cheerfully taking the head of our well-stocked table, ask in homely terms that "God will bless these the good creatures of His Herbal Simples to our saving uses, and us to His grateful service."
1897.

[xix]
CONTENTS.
Absinthe . . . 614 Acorn . . . 15 Agaric, Fly . . . 368 Agrimony . . . 18 Alexanders . . . 313 Allspice . . . 386 Amadou . . . 378 Anemone, Wood . . . 20 Angelica . . . 23 Aniseed . . . 24 Apple . . . 26 Arsmart . . . 606 Artichoke, Globe . . . 548 " Jerusalem . . . 549 Arum . . . 33 Asafetida . . . 269 Ash, Mountain . . . 350 Asparagus . . . 35 Asphodel, Bog . . . 482 Avens . . . 47
Balm . . . 39 Barberry . . . 42 Barley . . . 44 Basil, Sweet . . . 45 Bean . . . 415 Bedstraw . . . 231 Bee sting . . . 260 Beet . . . 507 Belladonna . . . 388 Bennet Herb . . . 47 Betony, Water . . . 50, 198 " Wood . . . 42 Bilberry . . . 652 Bistort, Great . . . 607 Blackberry . . . 53 Black Pot Herb . . . 312 Blackthorn . . . 517 Bladderwrack . . . 503 Blessed Thistle . . . 557 Blue Bell . . . 57 Bog Bean . . . 58 Borage . . . 60 Bracken . . . 184 Brooklime . . . 431 Broom . . . 62 Bryony, Black . . . 68 " White . . . 65 Buckthorn . . . 69 Bugle . . . 510 Bullace . . . 520 Bulrush . . . 481 Burdock . . . 162 Burnet Saxifrage . . . 430 Butcher's Broom . . . 64 Butterbur . . . 119 Buttercup . . . 71
Cabbage . . . 74 " Sea . . . 76 Calamint . . . 343 Camphor . . . 337 Capsicum . . . 78 Caraway . . . 81 Carline Thistle . . . 558 Carraigeen Moss . . . 500 Carrot . . . 88 Cascara