FAxMlLY HERBAL. 363 



t^iese are round, small, and of an extremely bit- 

 ter taste, much more bitter than the common 

 ifvormseed. 



This seed is'the part used. The o^ood women 

 bruise it, and mixing it with treacle, givo it to 



children of rob 



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It operates powerfully, by stool, and, if given in 

 too iar^ a quantity by vomit* It is therefore 

 to be used with discretion ; but it will answer the 



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purpose, and is preferable, for many reasons, to 

 those mercurial medicines^ which it is the fashion 

 of the times to give to people for those disorders ; 

 especially in the country, where there seldom is 

 5kill enougli in the practitioner to manage, as he 

 ought, medicines, which may be the occasion of 

 MO much mischief. 



Common Wormwood. Ahsynfhium vulgare. 



A WILD plant frequent hy way sides, and on 

 ditch-banks. It is a yard high. The stalks are 

 round, striated, white, firm, and branched. The" 

 leaves are iarg-e, but they are divided into a great 

 number of small parts. They are of a pale whit- 

 ish grceoj and stand irregularly on the stalks ; 



many larger, but of the same kind, rise from the 

 root. The flowers stand in a kind of loose spikes 

 at tlhc tops of the stalks ; they are small and 

 brown. The whole plant is of a very bitter 



taste. 



The tops of ihe plant are to be used fresh gAther- 

 cd ,* a very slight infusion of them is excellent for 

 all disorders of the stomach, and will prevent 

 «ickncss after meals, and create an appetite ; hut 

 if it be made strong, it will not only be disagree 

 able to the tast?, but will disgust the 



The tops with the flowers oii them dried aad 



stomach 



