\ 



8^ FAMILY herbal: 



large brrry, black when it is ripe, and in it era twe 

 seeds, which are what we call coffee ; they are 

 whitishj and of a disagreeable faste when raw. 



Coffee helps digestion^ and dispels wind : and it 

 works gently by urine. The best way of taking it 

 is as we commonly drink it, and there are constitu- 

 tions for which it is very proper. 



Sea Colewort^i or Sejl Bindweed. Soldunella. 



^ 



A PRETTY wild plant that we have on the 

 sea coastSj in many places; and that deserves to be 

 inuch more known than it is as a medicine* T^he 



r 



stalks are a foot long^ but weak and unable to sup- 

 port themselves upright. They are round and 

 green or purplish : the leaves are roundish^ but 

 shap^d a little heart fashioned at the bottom ; they 

 stand upon long foot-stalks, and are of a shining 

 green. The flowers are Targe and red, they are of 

 the shape of a bell ; the roots are white and small, 

 a. milky juice flows from the plant when any part of 

 it is brqken ; especially from the root. 



The whole plant is to be gathered fresh ^hen 

 about flowering, and boiled in ale with some nut- 

 meg and a clove or two, and taken in quantities 

 proportioned to th*j person's strength ; it is a strong 

 purge^ and it sometimes operates also by urine, but 

 there is no harm in that. It is fittest for country 

 people of robust constitutions, but it will cure 

 dropsies and rheumatism. Nay I have known a 



clap cured on a country fellow, by only twQ 



doses of it. The juice which oozes from the 

 stalk and roots may be saved, it hardens into 



a substance like scammony, and is an eycellent 

 pnr^e. 



