FAMILY HERBAL. 137 



ftlso the Strasburgantl some other of the turpentines. 

 The larch free and turpentine tree faroishiug the 

 others^ a« Avill be seen ia their places. The v/ood 

 h piled in heaps^ and lighted at the top, and the 

 tar sweats out at the lower parts. This beiiig* 



rd, and is called p 

 The turpentines are balsamic, and very pow- 

 erful promoters of urine, but of these more in 

 their places: the tar lias been of late rendered 

 ' famous by the water made from it ; but it was a 



fasljionable remedy, and is now out of repute 

 again. 



■ 



Sweet flag. Acgvus calamus ai^omaticiL^ dictus. 



A COMMON wild plant that grows undistin- 

 guished among the flags and rushes, by our ditch 

 sides. The old physicians meant another thing by 

 calamus aromaticus : they gave this name to the 

 dried stalks of a plant, but at present it is used as 

 the name of the root of this. The sweet flag grows 

 three feet high, but consists only of leaves without 

 a stalk. They are long, narrow, and of a pale green 

 colour. Among these there are commonly tbree 

 or four in all respects like the rest, but that they 

 have a cluster of flowers breaking out at one side, 

 within five or six inches of the top. This is long, 

 brown^ and thick, and resembles a catkin of a filbert 

 tree, only it is longer and thicker. The root is^ long, 

 flattish, and creeping: it is of a strong and rather 

 unpleasant smell when fresh, but it becomes very 

 fragrant, and aromatic in drying. Our own has its 

 value, because we can have it fresh, but the dried 

 root is better had of the druggists ; they have it from 

 warmer countries, where it is more fragrant. 



The juice of the fresh root of acorns is excel- 

 lent to promote the menses, it jvork^ by urine 



