368 MEALS. MEDICINAL. 
should be sweetened with honey, or glycerine. Also an infusion 
of sliced Horse Radish in milk, forms, by virtue of its contained 
sulphur, and by its stimulating pungency, an excellent cosmetic 
for the skin when lacking clearness, and freshness of colour. 
A mixture of recent Horse Radish juice, with white vinegar, 
will, if applied externally, do much towards removing freckles. 
When indolent pimples with a white head (acne) affect the skin, 
particularly at puberty, if each of these is touched now and again 
with some compound spirit of Horse Radish from the chemist, 
then the several pimples will be aborted, and will be dispersed 
without giving further trouble. For a relaxed throat, with loss 
of voice, a strong syrup of Horse Radish may be concocted, 
some of which should be mixed with water (a teaspoonful thereot 
to a wineglassful of cold water), and used freely as a gargle. 
Again, if the scraped root is macerated in vinegar it will form 
a mixture which, when sufficiently diluted with water, and 
sweetened, with glycerine, will give marked relief in whooping- 
cough of children, the dose being from one to two dessertspoontuls 
according to age. Care should be had not to mistake poisonous 
aconite root for Horse Radish root when digging it up; the two 
roots really differ in shape, and colour; furthermore, aconite 
leaves, if present, cannot be easily mistaken for those of any 
other plant, being completely divided to their base into five 
wedge-shaped lobes, which are again subdivided into three. 
Scraped Horse Radish, if applied to recent chilblains, and secured 
with a light bandage, will help to cure them. For facial 
neuralgia some of the fresh scrapings, if held in the hand of the 
affected side, will give relief, the hand becoming in some cases 
within a short time bloodlessly white, and benumbed. When 
infused in wine, Horse Radish root will stimulate the whole 
nervous system, and promote perspiration, whilst acting further 
to excite a free flow of urine. If applied topically for pleuritic 
pain in the side, the bruised root will mitigate such pain. 
For making Gill tea, which is popular in rural districts against 
a cough of long standing, the common and very familiar little 
herb, Ground Ivy (Nepeta glechoma) deserves notice from a 
culinary point of view. It is endowed also with singular 
curative virtues against nervous headaches, and for the relief of 
chronic bronchitis. “ Medicamentum hoc non satis potest laudari : 
si res ex usu estimarentur, auro equiparandum. est.” The small 
Ivy-like aromatic leaves, and the striking whorls of dark blue 
