14 FAMILY HERBAL. 



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gathered and bruised^ will sometimes restore the 

 speech at once ; and a continued use of them goes 

 a great way toward a cure. It is also good in 

 scorbutic cases^ and in all inward obstructions. 

 Some dry and powder it^ but it then loses almost all 

 its virtue. 



Arsmart or Water-pepper. Persicaria Vi 



A COMMON wild herb, neglected, but of great 

 'virtues. It grows every where about ditches, 

 and in watery places. It is a foot and a half high ; 

 the stalks are weak, green or reddish, and jointed. 

 Tlie leaves are long and narrow, like those of the 

 peach tree, of a bright green, not spotted, and 

 even at the edges. The flowers stand at the 

 tops of the stalks in slender spikes, of a greenish 

 white. As there arc several other kinds of ars- 

 mart, and most of them different from this in their 

 nature and qualities, great care is to be taken 

 to gather the right. It must have no spot upon 

 the mi'JdIe of tl»€ leaf. There is another common 

 kind oi arsmart with such a spot, and with thicker 

 stalks, and thick spikes of reddish flowers, which 

 has none of its virtue. 



The right arsmart is an excellent medicine in 

 obstructions of urine, in the gravel and stone : and 

 in the jaundice and beginning of dropsies it has done 

 great cures. The juice of the fresh gathered 

 plant is the best way of giving it. Outvvardlj it 

 is good to cleanse old ulcers. 



AuTiCHORE. Cinara. 



THE root of the common artichoke, or har- 

 tichoke, cultivated for our tables, is an ex- 

 cellent medicine. The plant itself is of the thistle- 



