HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



69 



which shepherds of Shakspeare's day and the country 

 people of the present day have called and still call 

 the orchis. However, the synonym " Dead-men's- 

 fingers " settles the question : Dead-men's-fingers, 

 Dead-menVhands, and Dead-men's-thumbs being 

 still in use in various counties. These names are 

 also applied to several other orchises, and no doubt 

 the pale palmate roots of two of the species have 

 given rise to the name. Orchis mascula, it is true, 

 has not palmate roots, but little heed was formerly 

 paid to minute distinctions, and its long purple spikes 

 are more conspicuous than those of other species, so 

 it would receive the name. Orchis mascula is called 

 Dead-men's-fingers in Sussex. It is called Dead- 

 men's-hands in Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Sussex, 

 Warwickshire, and the Border Country ; and it is 

 called Dead-man's-thumb by Gerard, and still in 

 the Border Country it receives the name. Orchis 

 Alorio, L., is called Dead-men's-fingers in Sussex, 

 and Orchis metadata, L., and O. latifolia, L., are 

 called Dead-men's-fingers in the Border Country. 

 It is clear that Shakspeare alluded to some kind of 

 orchis, and the adjective "long," applied to the 

 purple spikes, points pretty conclusively to the species. 

 Lythrum Salicaria, L., however, though certainly not 

 Shakspeare's "long purples," is known by that 

 name in Northamptonshire {sec Sternberg's " North- 

 amptonshire Glossary "), and it is, doubtless, the 

 plant of Clare's "Village Minstrel," ii. p. 90: — 



"Gay long-purp'es with its tufty spike ; 

 She'd wade o'er shoes to reach it in the dyke." 



I am unable to identify Tennyson's "long-purples of 

 the dale."— Robert Holland. 



The "Long-purples" of Shakspeare.— In 

 my opinion the " long-purples" of Shakspeare is the 

 Arum maculatum, in proof of which in Hamlet, 

 where the queen, informing Laertes of the death of 

 her sister says : 



" There is a willow grows ascaunt the brook, 

 That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream ; 

 Therewith fantastick garlands did she make 

 Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies and long-purples, 

 That liberal shepherds," &c. 



— J as. Thompson, Tint wis tie. 



South London Microscopical and Natural 

 History Club. — In the January number of Science- 

 Gossip is a paragraph, signed Stuart Taylor, 

 asking for assistance in starting a club in South 

 London for the study of natural history. As the 

 South London Microscopical and Natural History 

 Club has been in existence for nearly ten years, I 

 shall be obliged by your calling the attention of your 

 readers to it in your next number, as it fully answers 

 all the purposes your correspondent wishes for. — 

 Edward Dadswell, Hon. Sec, S. L. M. &> N. H Club. 



Water-Cresses. — In answer to R. B. B.'s inquiry 

 on the subject of the common water-cresses (Has- 

 turtium officinale) formerly Sisymbrium Nasturtium, 

 Science-Gossip, page 44. In the "Treasury of 

 Botany" it states, "As a spring salad, the young 

 shoots and leaves of water-cresses have been used 

 from time immemorial. They are stated to have 

 been eaten by the ancients along with lettuces, to 

 counteract the coldness of the latter by their warmth 

 and stimulating qualities ; and at the present day 

 they are to be found on almost every table, the 

 popular belief being that, when eaten fasting, they 

 possess the property of exciting the appetite, and 

 acting as a powerful anti-scorbutic. The first attempt to 

 cultivate water-cresses by artificial means in Europe, 

 was made by Nicolas Meissner, at Erfurt, the capital 



of Upper Thuringia, about the middle of the six- 

 teenth century. The experiment proved successful, 

 and the water-cresses of Erfurt soon acquired that 

 celebrity for their superior quality which they still 

 maintain ; most of the cities on the Rhine, as well as 

 the markets of Berlin 120 miles off, being constantly 

 supplied with them. In the neighbourhood of 

 London, the mode of cultivating water-cresses was 

 first introduced by Mr. Bradbury at Northfleet, 

 Springhead, near Gravesend, particularly in localities 

 favourably situated with regard to springs of water. 

 Near Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire, Waltham 

 Abbey in Essex, Uxbridge in Middlesex, and various 

 other places, there are plantations many acres in 

 extent, which are scarcely sufficient to supply the 

 great demand for this popular salad herb during the 

 season." Dr. M. J. Thornton, in his " Family 

 Herbal " (2nd edition, published 1814), quoting from 

 the author of the " Edinburgh New Dispensary," 

 says : " Water-cresses act as a gentle stimulant and 

 diuretic. They should be eaten at breakfast, also at 

 dinner, and at supper, to experience benefit from the 

 virtues of this herb." Haller says: "We have 

 seen patients in deep declines cured by living almost 

 entirely on this plant." It is. reported, the same 

 author adds, "that the juice of the water-cresses 

 snuffed up the nostrils has cured a polypus of the 

 nose. It enters into composition esteemed famous 

 for curing the scurvy. Withering speaks of the 

 water-cress as being universally used, as an early and 

 wholesome spring salad. It is an excellent anti- 

 scorbutic and stomachic, with less acrimony than the 

 scurvy grass. In the fourteenth volume of Science- 

 Gossip (page 42), there is an interesting note upon 

 the water-cress also at page 45, there is a reference 

 made to Mr. Shirley Hibberd's artificial growing of 

 the water-cress ; in the winter ; for which the Royal 

 Horticultural Society awarded him a medal. The 

 creeping water-parsnip [Stum noctiflorum), is men- 

 tioned in Professor Martyn's " Letters on Botany," 

 addressed to a young lady, as sometimes being 

 mistaken for the water-cress, as when both are 

 young, they are not unlike, and they frequently 

 grow together, but the leaves are very different, 

 and not often mistaken. — E. Edwards. 



Water-Cresses. — In reply to R. B. B. — Water- 

 cresses have been used as salad from very early 

 times up to the present with the reputation of pos- 

 sessing numerous medicinal virtues, but chiefly 

 diuretic and anti-scorbutic. Dioscorides said that 

 they warm, and are diuretic eaten raw, and that they 

 cleanse the face of spots and sores, applied at night 

 and taken off in the morning. Matthiolus, in his 

 " Commentary on Dioscorides," mentions other sup- 

 posed virtues ; and such like are to be found in the 

 other herbals of the sixteenth and seventeenth centu- 

 ries. They are not, however, worth repetition. Water- 

 cresses were retained in the "Materia Medica" until 

 the end of the eighteenth century. Under the genus 

 Sisymbrium, Linnseus mentions " Nasturtii aqua- 

 tici. Qual. : minus cochlearia acris. Vis : diuretica. 

 Usus : scorbutus, obstipatio, polypus. Mat. Med. 

 1749." Dr. Woodville wrote : " Water-cresses obtain 

 a place in the ' Materia Medica ' for their anti-scor- 

 butic qualities, which have been long very generally 

 acknowledged by physicians. They are also sup- 

 posed to purify the blood and humours, and to open 

 visceral obstructions. Hoffman and Haller thought 

 highly of their powers in this way : they are nearly 

 allied to scurvy-grass, but are more mild and pleasant, 

 and for this reason are frequently eaten as salad." 

 Med. Bot. 1790. Water-cresses are not now included 

 in the Materia Medica ; and even Lindley in his 



