297. AMMI majus. BISHOPS-WEED. The Seeds.--The seeds of common
bishops-weed are large and pale-coloured: their smell and taste are
weak, and without any thing of the origanum flavour of the true ammi,
which does not grow in this country. They are ranked among the four
lesser hot seeds, but are scarcely otherwise made use of than as an
ingredient in the theriaca.--Lewis's Mat. Med.
298. AMYGDALUS Persica. ALMONDS. Flowers.--They have a cathartic effect,
and especially to children have been successfully given in the character
of a vermifuge for this purpose; an infusion of a dram of the flowers
dried, or half an ounce in their recent state, is the requisite dose.
The expressed oil of almonds has been for a long time, and is at
present, in use for many purposes in medicine. The concentrated acid of
the bitter almond is a most dangerous poison to man and all other
animals.
299. ANAGALLIS arvensis. PIMPERNEL. The Leaves.--Many extraordinary
virtues have been attributed to them. Geoffroy esteems them cephalic,
sudorific, vulnerary, anti-maniacal, anti-epileptic, and alexiteral.
300. ANCHUSA angustifolia. BUGLOSS. The Roots, Leaves, and Flowers.--
Bugloss has a slimy sweetish taste, accompanied with a kind of coolness:
the roots are the most glutinous, and the flowers the least so. These
qualities point out its use in hot bilious or inflammatory distempers,
and a thin acrimonious state of the fluids.
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