Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure | Page 8

that the study and
practice of curative British herbs may now fairly take rank as an exact
science, and may command the full confidence of the sick for
supplying trustworthy aid and succour in their times of bodily need.
Scientific reasons which are self-convincing may be readily adduced
for prescribing all our best known native herbal medicines. Among
them the Elder, Parsley, Peppermint, and Watercress may be taken as
familiar examples of this leading fact. Almost from time immemorial in
England a "rob" made from the juice of Elderberries simmered and
thickened with sugar, or mulled Elder wine concocted from the fruit,

with raisins, sugar, and spices, has been a popular remedy in this
country, if taken hot at bedtime, for a recent cold, or for a sore throat.
But only of late has chemistry explained that Elderberries furnish
"viburnic acid," which induces sweating, and is specially curative of
inflammatory bronchial soreness. So likewise Parsley, besides being a
favourite pot herb, and a garnish for cold meats, has been long popular
in rural districts as a tea for catarrh of the bladder or kidneys; whilst the
bruised leaves have been extolled as a poultice for swellings and open
sores. At the same time, a saying about the herb has commonly
prevailed that it "brings death to men, and salvation to women." Not,
however, until recently has it been learnt that the sweet-smelling plant
yields what chemists call "apiol," or Parsley-Camphor, which, when
given in moderation, exercises a quieting influence on the main sensific
centres of life--the head and the spine. Thereby any feverish irritability
of the urinary organs inflicted by cold, or other nervous shock, would
be subordinately allayed. Thus likewise the Parsley-Camphor (whilst
serving, [4] when applied externally, to usefully stimulate indolent
wounds) proves especially beneficial for female irregularities of the
womb, as was first shown by certain French doctors in 1849.
Again, with respect to Peppermint, its cordial water, or its lozenges
taken as a confection, have been popular from the days of our
grandmothers for the relief of colic in the bowels, or for the
stomach-ache of flatulent indigestion. But this practice has obtained
simply because the pungent herb was found to diffuse grateful aromatic
warmth within the stomach and bowels, whilst promoting the expulsion
of wind; whereas we now know that an active principle "menthol"
contained in the plant, and which may be extracted from it as a
camphoraceous oil, possesses in a marked degree antiseptic and
sedative properties which are chemically hostile to putrescence, and
preventive of dyspeptic fermentation.
Lastly, the Watercress has for many years held credit with the common
people for curing scurvy and its allied ailments; while its juices have
been further esteemed as of especial use in arresting tubercular
consumption of the lungs; and yet it has remained for recent analysis to
show that the Watercress is chemically rich in "antiscorbutic salts,"

which tend to destroy the germs of tubercular disease, and which strike
at the root of scurvy generally. These salts and remedial principles are
"sulphur," "iodine," "potash," "phosphatic earths," and a particular
volatile essential oil known as "sulphocyanide of allyl," which is almost
identical with the essential oil of White Mustard.
Moreover, many of the chief Herbal Simples indigenous to Great
Britain are further entitled for a still stronger reason to the fullest
confidence of both doctor [5] and patient. It has been found that when
taken experimentally in varying quantities by healthy provers, many
single medicines will produce symptoms precisely according with those
of definite recognized maladies; and the same herbs, if administered
curatively, in doses sufficiently small to avoid producing their toxical
effects, will speedily and surely restore the patient to health by
dispelling the said maladies. Good instances of such homologous cures
are afforded by the common Buttercup, the wild Pansy, and the
Sundew of our boggy marshes. It is widely known that the field
Buttercup (Ranunculus bulbosus), when pulled from the ground, and
carried in the palm of the hand, will redden and inflame the skin by the
acrimony of its juices; or, if the bruised leaves are applied to any part
they will excite a blistering of the outer cuticle, with a discharge of
watery fluid from numerous small vesicles, whilst the tissues beneath
become red, hot, and swollen; and these combined symptoms precisely
represent "shingles,"--a painful skin disease given to arise from a
depraved state of the bodily system, and from a faulty supply of
nervous force. These shingles appear as a crop of sore angry blisters,
which commonly surround the walls of the chest either in part or
entirely; and modern medicine teaches that a medicinal tincture of the
Buttercup, if taken in small doses, and applied, will promptly and
effectively cure the same troublesome ailment; whilst it will further
serve to banish a