126 NAT. ORDER. PERSC NAT.E. 



animal kinds, liaving rather a weed-like appearance, are onlygro^vn 

 in botanical gardens ; the seeds of them only require to be sown in 

 the open ground. There are some species wliich are natives of 

 New Holland, Van Diemen's Land, and New Zealand, which be- 

 ing rather tender, require to be treated as green-house plants ; the 

 shrubby kinds of these are propagated by cuttings ; the others by 

 divisions. 



Medical Properties and Uses. The leaves and stem of Brook- 

 lime have a bitter, warm, and somewhat astringent taste ; it has been 

 considered diaplioretic, diuretic, expectorant, and tonic, and is said to 

 have been employed with considerable success in jx?ctoral and ne- 

 phritic complaints, haemorrhages, and diseases of the skin ; it has 

 been employed in the fi'esh state in purifying the blood, and as a 

 remedy in scurvy. 



Woodville, in describing this plant, says, — " that by a chemical 

 analysis they appear to be subacid, and possess some degree of as- 

 tringency, but that tliese qualities are common to almost all fresh 

 vegetables, and afford no proof of their medical powers." 



This plant was formerly considered useful in several diseases, 

 and was applied externally to wounds and ulcers ; but if it possesses 

 any peculiar efficacy, it is to be derived from its anti-scorbutic virtue. 

 The juice is used as a mild refrigerant where an acrimonious state of 

 tile fluids prevail, indicated by prurient eruptions upon the &kin, or 

 scurvy ; it is ordered in the London Pharmacopoeia as an ingredient 

 in the success of cochliariae compositus, probably with a view to cor- 

 rect the pungency of the cress. We must, however, acknowledge, that 

 we should expect equal benefit from the same quantity of any other 

 bland fresh vegetable matter taken into the system. To derive any 

 advantage from it, the juice ought to be used in large quantities, or 

 the fresh plant eaten as food. 



