/ 



242 ) 



V 



calyx IS compofed of two deciduous equal leafits, fllghtly indented at 



the edges : ^the corolla is oblong, tubular, gaping, or ringent, the 

 palate projeding fo as to fill up the mouth ; the upper Up dilated at 

 the tip, keel-ihaped, hollow beneath, turned a little upwards at the 



margin, and at the bafe obtufe, and curled inward; tht lower Up 



ly fimilar to the upper ; the lateral petals cohere at the top, and 

 form a quadrangular mouth, in which there are three divifions on the 

 upper and lower part : the filaments are two, membranous, broad at 



bafe, and each furniihed with three yellowifh anthers : the 



g 



men is oval : the ftyle is filiform, about the length of the filaments, and 

 crowned with a flattifh downy ftigma : the feed is roundiih, and con- 

 tained in a fmall heart-fliaped pod. Fumitory is common in corn 

 fields, and ufually flowers in May. 



By the Ancients this plant was named Capnos,^ from being thought 

 be peculiarly ufeful in dimnefs of fight, and other difeafes of the 



yes. The leaves, which are the part of the plant direded for 



medicinal ufe by the Edinburgh Col 



emely fucculent, and 



have no remarkable fmell, but a bitter fomewhat faline tafte. " The 

 expreffed juice, and a decoction of the leaves in water, infpiilated to 

 the confillence of extracts, are very bitter, and confiderably faline ; 

 on ftanding for fome time they throw up to the furface copious faline 

 efflorefcences, in figure fomewhat refembling the cryftals of nitre, to 

 the tafte bitterifh and flightly pungent. A tinfture of the dry leaves, 



in redilied fpirit, yields, on infpifTation, an extrad: lefs in quantity 

 and bitterer in tafle than either the watery extrad: or infpiflated juice. 

 Fumitory has been fuppofed by feveral Phyficians of great authority, 

 both ancient and modern, to be very efficacious in opening obftruc- 

 tions and infardions of the vifcera, particularly thofe of the hepatic 

 fyftem: it is alfo highly commended for its power of corredinga 

 fcorbutic and acrimonious flate of the fluids ; and has therefore been 



Diofcor. KxiTvios Gal. i. e. fumus — " Clarltatem facit Inunais oculis, 

 delachrymationemque, ceu fumus j unde nomen." . Plin. L. 25. cap. 13. 



See 



Galen. Simp. Lib, 7. />. 49 



b 



Lewis M. M. p. 315 



*= Aetius, Boerhaave, F. Hoffman, and many others. 



The juice of Dandelion and Fumitory is greatly commended by Leidenfroft 

 te difeafes of the fkin. See Dif. dejuccis herb, &c. 



An infufion of the leaves is ufed as a cofmetic to remove freckles and cl( 



:bft. 



ftin 



employ 



