398 MEALS MEDICINAL. 
with the falling sickness.” “‘ Thyme boiled in wine, and drunk, 
is good against the wamblings, and gripings of the belly.” That 
the herb was esteemed to be antiseptic in classic times, we learn 
from Dryden’s Virgil, in the Georgics :— 
“ But if a pinching winter thou foresee, 
And would’st preserve thy famished family, 
With fragrant thyme the city fumigate.” 
Among the ancient Greeks, Thyme was an emblem of bravery, 
and energy. With a similar notion, the ladies of England’s 
chivalry embroidered on the scarves which they presented to 
their doughty knights, the device of a bee hovering about a sprig 
of Thyme, as teaching the union of the courageous with the 
amiable. 
A fragrant and exhilarating tea may be made from the leaves 
and blossoms of the Sweet Woodruff, the same proving useful 
for correcting sluggishness of the liver. This (the Asperula 
odorata) is a favourite little plant which grows commonly in our 
woods, and gardens, possessing a pleasant odour, which, like 
the good deeds of the worthiest persons, delights by its fragrance 
most after death. The herb is of the Rubiaceous order, and 
derives its botanical adjunct from the Latin word asper, rough, 
in allusion to the rough leaves owned by its species. It may 
be easily recognized by the small, white flowers set on slender 
stalks, with narrow leaves growing around the stems in successive 
whorls. The name Woodruffe has been whimsically spelt 
Woodderowffe, thus :— 
Double U, Double 0, Double D, E, 
R, O, Double U, Double F, E. 
Its terminal syllable rofe signifies a diminutive wheel, or rowel, 
like that of an ancient spur; and therefore the plant is known 
also as Wood-rowel. When freshly gathered it has but little 
smell, but on being dried it exhales a charming, and enduring 
aroma, like the sweet scent of meadow grass, or of peach blossoms. 
This agreeable fragrance is due to a chemical principle, 
“coumarin,” whilst the herb further contains citric, malic, and 
tubichloric acids, together with some tannic acid. The small 
verticillate leaves of this Woodruff serve to remind us of good 
Queen Bess, and the high, starched, old-fashioned ruff which 
_ she used to wear, as shown in her portraits. 
