302 FLORA HISTORICA. 



in the field, is naturally the more desired in the 

 garden, and as it is a delicate pretty flower that 

 we love to see in the small parterre, or on the 

 banks or borders of the larger pleasure garden, 

 we shall observe that it may be increased by cut- 

 tings, and when planted in a pot of light earth, 

 and placed in a hot bed, it will produce flowers 

 in about six weeks. 



This little plant, whose numerous branches 

 spread themselves on the ground, being too weak 

 to erect their flower stems, but which catch our 

 attention by the vivid scarlet of the corolla, was 

 formerly in so great repute with medical prac- 

 titioners, that, although it is now neglected in our 

 practice, we shall notice the various uses that it 

 was most celebrated for ; and should it be found 

 to possess but one of the qualities attributed to it 

 by many eminent men, we shall regret that it ever 

 was banished from modern medicine. 



The Greeks and Romans, according to PKny, 

 used the juice of this plant, mixed with honey, 

 for complaints of the eyes. Ettmuller, and many 

 other writers of equal note, extol it as a remedy 

 for madness. Quercetanus, who was celebrated 

 for the cure of this disease, gave decoctions of 

 Pimpernel after antimonial vomits and laxative 

 medicine. In malignant fevers, with low mutter- 

 ing delirium, or wherever the functions of the 



