372. MEALS MEDICINAL. 
which comes to us in cylindrical, or flattened rolls enveloped 
in bay leaves. The sugar of Liquorice may be safely taken 
by diabetic patients. By far and away the best Liquorice 
lozenges (for inducing quiet sleep, and against constipation), 
are those of old fashion still to be obtained as_ the 
manufacture of “‘Smith,”’ in the Borough, London; not the 
pilules. Old Fuller wrote respecting Nottingham: ‘ This 
county affordeth the first, and best Liquorice in England ; great 
is the use thereof in physick. A stick of the same is commonly 
the spoon prescribed to patients to use in any loaches. If (as 
the men of Aineas were forced to eat their own trenchers) these 
chance to eat their spoons, their danger is none at all.’ Liquorice 
is likewise used in various other articles of confectionery, in 
brewing, and to be mixed with tobacco :— 
“ But first he cheweth greyn, and lycorys 
To smellen sweete.”’ 
Miller's Tale.—Chaucer. . 
Another favourite pot herb grown in the kitchen garden is 
Sweet Marjoram, of which the generic title Origanum signifies 
“Joy of the mountains.” This plant furnishes an essential, 
fragrant, volatile oil which is cordial, warming, and tonic. 
“ Organ,” says Gerarde, “is very good against the wambling 
of the stomacke, and stayeth the desire to vomit, especially at 
sea. It may be used to good purpose for such as cannot brooke 
their meate.” Externally the herb has been successfully 
employed against scirrhous tumours of the breast. Murray 
writes: ‘‘ Twmores mammarum dolentes scirrhosos herba recens. 
viridis, per tempus applicata, feliciter dissipavit.” The essential 
oil, when long kept, assumes a solid form, and was at one time 
much esteemed for being rubbed into stiff joints. A tea brewed 
from the fresh herb will relieve headache of a nervous hysterical 
nature. 
Several kinds of the Mints have been used medicinally from 
the earliest times, such as Pennyroyal, Peppermint, and Spear- 
mint ; each of which, though growing wild in wet and marshy 
wastes, is cultivated in our herb gardens for kitchen purposes. 
Their flowering tops are all found to contain a certain portion 
of camphor. The Mint plant was eaten gaily of old, with 
many a joke, because said to have been originally a pretty girl 
metamorphosed by Persephone. The Pennyroyal (Mentha 
pulegium) was formerly known as Pudding grass, from being 
