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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



tuberous, somewhat creeping, of an aromatic, and 

 acrid quality ; long supposed a sovereign counter- 

 poison, and celebrated as a powerful external, as well 

 as internal remedy in various disorders. 



Angelica {Angelica arckangelica) received its name 

 as a record of the angelic virtues possessed by some 

 of the species, for not only was it a singular remedy 

 against poison, &c, but was considered to be 

 invaluable against witchcraft and enchantments. Its 

 tender twigs make a fine canopy, and a friend has 

 known the plant brought to market, to be sold to the 

 confectioners for that purpose. Elecampane (Inula 

 Helenitmi) is the Marchalan of the Welsh. It is a 



been substituted in the old English cool tankard, 

 and amongst herbalists it was highly extolled as a 

 cooler of the blood. In Shakespear, allusion is thus 

 made to the sea-holly (Eryngium maritimum) by 

 Falstaff. " Let the sky rain potatoes ; let it thunder 

 to the tune of Green Sleeves ; hail kissing-comfits, and 

 snow eringoes." {Merry Wives of Windsor, v. 5)- 

 Gerarde tells us that eryngoes are the calcined root 

 of the holly, and he gives the recipe for candying 

 them. 



Fig. 73. — Common Comfrey (Symphytum officinale). 



genus of the composite plants. The root has an 

 aromatic camphor-like taste, due to the presence of a 

 dry crystalline substance called helenin, allied in 

 chemical constitutions to creosote. It also contains a 

 quantity of starchy material called inulin. Elecam- 

 pane was formerly much used as an aromatic tonic. 

 The root is esteemed a good pectoral, and like the 

 Angelica root is candied, as also are the eryngo 

 and comfrey root ; the latter is also used as a 

 fomentation. 



Symphytum officinale, the common comfrey, is a 

 well-known plant, having much the taste and 

 properties of borage, for which it has not unfrequently 



Fig. 74. — Tree-Mallow (Lavatera arhorea). 



The broad-leaved groundsel (Senecio saracenicus) 

 is another of the composite family ; this plant is 

 sometimes found in similar situations to the above ; 

 what are its exact virtues we do not know. 



The sea tree-mallow, (Lavatera aborea) growing in 

 a wild state upon maritime rocks, a rare plant, though 

 often cultivated in sea coast cottage gardens, contains 

 (like the best of the mallows) an abundance of 

 mucilaginous matter. 



Sweet leaf (Fyrethrum balsamita) and Alecost 



