Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure | Page 4

several herbs
contains lime, and earthy salts, in a subtle form of high natural
sub-division: whilst, at the same time, the law of cure by medicinal
similars has established the cognate fact that to those who inherit a
strumous taint, infinitesimal doses of these earth salts are incontestably
curative. The parents had 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 .