which, although discarded from the College list, are
nevertheless still used by medical practitioners and others.
It would be difficult to give a full history of all the plants that have
from time to time been recommended for medical uses. The old writers, as
Gerard, Parkinson, Lyte, &c. attributed medical virtues to all the
plants which came under their notice; and, on the other hand, as we
observed above, the vegetable department of the Pharmacopoeias has from
time to time been reduced so much, that, if we had confined ourselves to
that alone, we fear our little treatise on this head would, by many
persons, be thought defective. The following list is therefore given, as
containing what are used, though probably not so much by practitioners
in medicine, as by our good housewives in the country, who, without
disparagement to medical science, often relieve the distresses of their
families and neighbours by the judicious application of drugs of this
nature, and many of which are also sold for the same purposes in the
London herb-shops.
291. ACANTHUS mollis. SMOOTH BEARS-BREECH. The Leaves.--Are of a soft
sweetish taste, and abound with a mucilaginous juice: its virtues do not
seem to differ from those of Althea and other mucilaginous plants.
292. ACHILLA Ptarmica. SNEEZEWORT. The Root.--The roots have and acrid
smell, and a hot biting taste: chewed, they occasion a plentiful
discharge of saliva; and when powdered and snuffed up the nose, provoke
sneezing.
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