CINNAMON. 177 
or basin, at the end of a long pole. The clapper was an instru- 
ment made of two or three little boards which could be noisily 
rattled together so as to incite notice. Thus the wretched 
lepers obtained the name of Rattle Pouches, which appellation 
has become extended to this small plant, bearing a reference 
to the diminutive purses which it hangs out along the pathway. 
Lady Paget, when interviewing at Bologna Count Mattei, 
of the “seven marvellous medicines,” gathered the knowledge 
that this Shepherd’s Purse furnishes the so-called ‘“ blue 
electricity,” of surpassing virtue for controlling hemorrhages. 
The juices expressed from the fresh herb can be simmered down 
with sugar until thickened to a liquid extract, and taken thus, 
one teaspoonful for the dose. English druggists now prepare, 
and dispense, a fluid extract of this herb. Its popular names 
are “‘Case Weed,” “ Pickpocket,” ‘‘ Mother’s Heart,” and 
‘© Toy-wort.”” 
The term Cinnamon is connected with ‘* quineh,” a reed, or 
cane. Dr. Tobias Venner wrote (1620) in his Recta via ad vitam 
longam :—‘* From one pound of Cinnamon (grossly beaten), 
a pound of white sugar, a gallon of sack, and a quart of rosewater, 
steeped together for twenty-four hours, may be drawne by 
distillation a water of singular efficacie against sowning (swooning) 
debilitie of the spirit, and the princepall parte. Wherefor 
I wish every man that is respective of his health and life, 
especially such as are of weake nature, never to be without it, 
and to take now and then a spoonfull or two, especially when 
occasion shall instant the use of it; then take powder of 
Synamome, and temper it with red wyne.” “For fragrance 
of smell, and jucunditie of taste Cinnamon excelleth all other 
spices ; it strengtheneth the stomacke, preventeth and correcteth 
the putrefaction of humors, resisteth poysons, exceedingly 
comforteth the principall parts, especially the heart, and liver, 
and reuiueth the spirits. It is convenient for all bodies, 
especially for them that are of cold and moyst temperature, 
and that have weake stomackes.” St. Francis of Sales has 
said, in his Devout Life, with respect to the labour of teaching, 
“It refreshes and revives the heart by the sweetness it brings 
to those who are engaged in it, as the Cinnamon does in Arabia 
Felix to them who are laden therewith.” _ 
For a dozen or more years past Cinnamon has been successfully 
employed as a specific abortive of the influenza poison, only 
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