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us ; it often varies considerably in its colors, from white to red. 

 I think it is old Culpepper who says of this plant, that " if its 

 virtues were as much sought after and cultivated as they are 

 neglected there would be no work for spectacle makers." There 

 are many legends associated with the Eyebright, too many in fact 

 to quote here ; but one which my brother and I heard one Satur- 

 day night, wliile making our way to the Museum, is perhaps worth 

 repeating. A quack, having his stand at the entrance to the 

 Sands, was detailing to his audience the powers of herbs, "and 

 their true qualities " over every other medicine invented. Thus 

 he spoke : — " Does a dog when it is ill go to a druggist's shop, to 

 get poisoned ? No ! it goes to the green fields, and there picks 

 out for itself a certain grass, which it eats and makes itself sick, 

 thus getting rid of the bad humours of the stomach. And so with 

 other animals. Do the birds go to a druggist's shop ? No ! the 

 very herb that I hold in my hand is noted, and has been from time 

 immemorial, for curing diseases of the eye ! The lark, when its 

 nestling gets its eye pricked with a thorn (he did not say how), 

 goes in search of this herb, perhaps having to fly miles and miles 

 before it finds what it is in search of. When it has found this 

 herb, this Euphrasia, it brings a piece carefully to its nest in its 

 beak, and there it chews and chews it up till it is a perfect pulp, 

 and then applies it to the injured eye of its nestling, which in a 

 short time heals, and it regains its wonted sight." When we left, 

 he was selling his pills and potions as fast as he could hand them 

 out. Rhinanthus crista-galli is too common in most of our meadows ; 

 by some its presence is considered a sign of bad land, by others, a 

 sign of bad husbandry. I believe it is partially parasitic on some 

 of the roots of the grasses. It is easily known by its bladder-like 

 capsule, in which the seeds when ripe make a distinct rattle when 

 shaken. As it ripens before the other meadow plants are fit for 

 the scythe, it has therefore little chance of being exterminated. 

 The Yellow Cow-wheat, Melampyrum pratense, may be found in 

 Wetheral Woods. The Field Lousewort, Pediciilaris sylvatica, 

 with its finely-cut leaves, looking almost like a fern, is found on 

 Kingmoor, and a white variety at Corby quarries. P. palusiris, -a. 



