202 THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE 



sovereign virtue as some set-off" against its horrible 

 Hastiness. " The Berries of Juniper being boyled," we 

 are advised by one of these venerable herbalists, in " Wine 

 or Honeyed Water, and drunk, is an effectuall remedy 

 for Chollick, but especially the Chimicall Oyle drawn 

 from the berries, foure or five drops thereof being taken 

 in a Morning in Broth or Beere, and ten or a dozen of 

 the ripe Berries eaten every Morning fasting. The Berries 

 taken in Wine are very effectuall against the biting of Vipers 

 or Adders, as also against the Plague or Pestilence, or 

 any other Infection or Poyson. They are good for the 

 Cough. Shortnesse, of Breath, Convulsions, or Cramps. 

 They strengthen the Braine, helpe the Memory exceed- 

 ingly, and fortify the Sight." Reference to any of these 

 old authors, from Pliny and Dioscorides right through 

 the centuries to Gerard, or Parkinson, and their fellows, 

 would readily supply us with any number of addi- 

 tional testimonies to the healing value of the juniper, 

 but we may be content to judge from sample and not 

 insist on more, especially as these old writers had a 

 terrible way of copying from each other, and while we 

 think we are gathering the wisdom of Lyte or Culpeper 

 we are really getting at much more than second-hand the 

 fancies of Hippocrates or Theophrastus, Galen or Aristotle. 



MISTLETOE (Viscum Album) 



Mistletoe, the subject of our thirty-second Plate, and 

 the Viscum album of the botanist, must surely be a plant 

 so well known that any elaborate description of it appears 

 almost a mockery, a slight on the powers of observation. 



