RBV. DB. QILLY ON CHURCHES AND CHURCHYARDS. 177 



although the rupture be great and of long continuance : it 

 likewise profiteth much those that are wounded into the 

 body, and the decoction of the herbe made in wine, pre- 

 Taileth mightily in healing inward wounds, as myselfe haue 

 likewise proved.'* (Historic of Plants, p. 939.) 



Ray also furnishes us with a proof of the medicinal virtue 

 of the Gerania. When he tells us that Geranium molle and 

 robertianum are added to vulnerary potions and fomentations 

 to stay fluxes and effusions of blood, and to relieve the pains 

 of cholick, and of the stone and gravel, he merely gives us a 

 summary of preceding observation ; but he speaks from his 

 own knowledge when he details the case of his host at Car- 

 lisle, who, subject to frequent severe paroxysms of pain from 

 calculus, found in nothing so much relief as from a decoction 

 of Ger. robertianum. (Syn. p. 361.) In a subsequent work, 

 after repeating its virtues as a vulnerary herb, Ray mentions 

 that a decoction of the same species is used by shepherds to 

 cure their cattle passing bloody urine. (Hist. Plant ii. p. 

 1059.) 



Geiger informs us that G. pratense and sanguineum were 

 formerly officinal, the root and herb being used, both having 

 an unpleasant odour, and a very astringent taste, which is 

 contrary to Dr. Edgar's information. Other compilers repeat 

 the same tale* of the astringency of the Gerania in general, 

 and of their popular use in fluxes and diseases of relaxation ; 

 but it is foreign to my purpose to enter farther on the sub- 

 ject than what is sufficient to show that the virtue ascribed 

 to our district species is not imaginary. 



Our Churches and Churchyards, 

 I. NoRHAM. By the Rev. W. S. Gilly, D.D. 



Among local objects of interest, there are none more wor- 

 thy of attention than Churches and Churchyards. To the 

 Antiquary, the Historian, the Naturalist, and the Etymolo- 

 gist, as well as to the Ecclesiologist, the parish sanctuary, 



* For eztntcts from the works of L. M^rat, Qeiger, and Oerbuier, I am in- 

 debtped to the obliging kindness of Professor Christbon. 



