Z 8 The Ufeful Family Herbal. 



I 



r 



The Bdellium-Tree. 



ARBOR BDELLIUM FERENS. 



l^T'E are very well acquainted with the Gum, 



or rather Gum Refin called Bdellium, but 

 we know very little of the Tree from which it is 

 produced ; the bed Defcription we have of it, 

 amounts to no more than that it is moderate- 

 ly large, bufhy, and full of Branches with 

 ^Prickles upon them, and with oblong and broad 

 Leaves deeply indented at the Edges, fo that they 

 refemble Oak-Leaves : And that, when the young 

 Shoots are broken, they yield a milky Juice. But 

 even this does not come upon Certainty, that is, 

 W9 are not aflured, that this Tree produces the 

 very Gum we fee. This is of a red brown Colour, 

 and bitterifli Talle. 



It is a good Medicine in Obflrudllons of the 

 Liver and Spleen, but it is not much ufed. 



The Bean. 



FABA. 



T 



H E common Garden-Bean is fufficiently 

 known ; it grows to a Yard high, its Stalk? 

 are angular, and the Leaves which are of the 

 winged kind, ftand one at each Joint ; the Flowers 

 are white fpotted with Black, and are finely 

 ' fcented. The Pods and their Seeds need not be 

 defcribed. 



_ \ 



It has been cuftomary to diftil a Water froni 

 Bean-Flowers, and ufe it to foften the Skin, but 

 common diftilled Water does as well. It is otherr 

 wife with the Water of the Bean-Pods. Thefe 

 are to be bruifed, when the Beans are half ripe in 

 them, and diftilled with Water in a common 

 'Alembic. The Water is a very gentle Carmi- 



native 



} 



