264 LICHENES. 



Under the name of Hibcr^gra^iS the Marchantia is known to some 

 skilled in herbs as " the sovereign' st thing on earth " to cure a cold 

 or " a binding at the heart." Dec. 27, 1846. I found the wife of a 

 phthisical patient preparing a strong decoction of Liver-grass, which 

 a neighbour had commended as a certain cure for her husband. The 

 strained decoction is sweetened with sugar-candy or liquorice. In 

 the west of our district it has been long used, with success, in 

 dropsies. These popular remedies never fail * . And the Marchantia, 

 after some trials, principally in the Edinburgh Infirmary, has been 

 now introduced into regular practice. The few trials I have made 

 of it induce me to think that the remedy is uncertain, and inferior 

 to many others in diuretic virtue. 



V. LicHENEs= EtdjcniS. 



1. Endocarpon miniatum, y. N. On the hnn in Humbledon 

 dean above Wooler, Sir W. C. Trevelyan, Bart. — B. In Reedy-burn, 

 often encrusting mosses, J. Hardy. 



2. Gyrophora proboscidea. N. On rocks near the summit 

 of Hedgehope ; and on Cheviot. 



3. G. CYLiNDRiCA. N. On the Cheviots, plentiful. — B. On a 

 dyke in Bushiel dean and near Penmanshiel : Penmanshiel moor, 

 J. Hardy. See Bot. G. North, ii. p. 43. 



* From recent inquiry, I am led to believe that the race of Herbalists, 

 — the lineal descents of our Wizards and Weird- Sisters, — is more nume- 

 rous than I had previously suspected. An itinerant vender of " chap " 

 books tells me that he does not like to make a journey without two or 

 three copies of Culpepper's Herbal in his wallet. The edition he sells is a 

 thick 24mo, and has this title : — " Culpepper's Complete Herbal ; with 

 nearly four huncb-ed medicines, made from English Herbs, physically 

 applied to the cure of all Disorders incident to Man ; with Rules for com- 

 pounding them. To which is now added. His English Physician enlarged, 

 forming a complete Family Dispensatory, and natm'al sjstem of Physic. 

 Halifax: Milner and Sowerby, 1852." There is also an engraved title, 

 which tells us that this " British Herbal " is " by Nick^ Culpepper, Student 

 in Physic and Astrology," and it is adorned with a group of flowers prettdy 

 arranged and neatly etched. There are besides twenty-five " elegant " 

 coii])er-plates containing the figures of many of the most virtuous herbs ; 

 and we have all these, and about 450 closely printed pages, for the sum of 

 Is. 6c?. The price is a proof of the extensive sale of the volume; and it is 

 a cm-ious fact that a book stuifed with puerile conceits, folly and credulity, 

 should maintain itself alive, and exert so much influence. Yet, indeed. 

 Herbalists are not more believing than many philosophers of the day, who 

 play with claii'\'oyance, mesmeric trances and visions, and other phantasies ; 

 nor than the swallowers — and they are legion — of ])atent medicines ! less 

 innocuous than Culpepper's " simples." Tlie Liverwort is of course one of 

 them. Culpepper informs us that " it is under the dominion of Jupiter, 

 and under the sign Cancer. It is a singular good herb for all diseases of 

 the liver, both to cool and cleanse it, and helpeth inflammations in any 

 part, and the yellow jaundice likewise," &c. 



