FAMILY HERBAL. 315 



ol)loftg, and sharp at the point. They arc of a deep 

 green colour, and firm substance : the flowers are 

 small, they grow in clusters upon the branches, not 

 at their extremities, but in different parts of them. 

 The fruit is large^ and much of the shape of a 

 walnut. It is yellow wheit ripe, and contains a 

 j^reat many round flat seeds. These are exactly of 

 the shape and form of what we call nux vomica; 

 but they are not half so big-. Some have, for this 

 teason, supposed the real rtux vomica to be the 

 fruit of this tree; but it is produced by another of 

 the same ge-nus. The wood of tlie smaller branches 

 js used : this is what we called lignum colubrinum, 

 addcr-woodj and snake-wood. It is famous in the 

 East for curing fevers and destroying worms ; 

 they also say It is a remedy against the bites of 

 gerpents, and hence comes its name. We have been 

 tempted to give it in some cases ; but it seems better 

 suited to the constitutions of the people amono' 

 whom it grows than to ours : it brings on con- 

 vulsions^ if given in too large a dose, or if too fresrh. 

 It loses its strength by degrees in keeping ; but 

 I don't know how it can be possible to deter* 

 mine what dose to give of such a medicine. 



I 



Sneezewort. Ptarmica. 



A VERY pretty wild plants with Jafsy-Iike 

 flowers, and narrow dentated leaves. It grows 

 two (i^ci high'. The stalk is rounds firm, upright, 

 and but little branched. The leaves are very 

 numerous, and they stand irregularly ; they are 

 an inch or more in length, and very narrow, rough 

 to the touchj and of a bright green. The floweri 

 stand at the tops of the stalks, so that they form 

 a kind of round head ; they are less than daisies 

 and their leaves broader. 



