LABIATE TRIBE 41 



certainly ascribed to the slightly tonic and stimulating properties of the herb 

 a higher praise than they deserved. Thyme tea is yet in good favour in 

 villages, and many a tuft of the closely allied garden Thyme is still to be 

 seen on the cottage plot, and is gathered for that purpose. Often, too, 

 perhaps, it is looked upon by some moralizing matron, to whom it is signifi- 

 cant of the mingled Aveal an.d woe of daily life, as she remembers the old 

 proverb, " Rue and thyme grow l^aithe in a garden." The plant was, in the 

 opinion of our fathers, " a nol)le strengthener of the lungs, as notable a one 

 as grows ;" and in some of the earliest manuscripts of this country it was 

 recommended for those who were " streyt ondyd," that is, short-breathed. 



Besides its use as an infusion, and in various liquid preparations, an oint- 

 ment was made from Thyme blossoms which was considered very healing. 

 The leaves bruised, and laid upon the part stung by a bee or wasp, were 

 thought to allay the irritation. Parkinson says of this herb : " Thyme is a 

 speciall helpe to melancholicke and spleneticke disease. The oyle that is 

 chymically drawne out of ordinarie Thyme is used, as the whole herbe is, in 

 pils for the head and stomacke. It is also much used for the tooth-ache, as 

 many other such-like hot oyles are." The substance now sold as a remedy 

 for tooth-ache by the name of Oil of Thyme is made, however, from the 

 marjoram. Mr. Purton, whose medical, as well as botanical science renders 

 him a good authority in such matters, considers an infusion of the leaves of 

 wild Thyme good for headache, and says it is reputed to be an infallible cure 

 for nightmare ; and Linnseus recommended its use for pains in the head. 

 The plant yields camphor by distillation, and an infusion of its leaves may 

 probably be taken with advantage by nervous persons. Bees are very fond 

 of its flowers, and these are very pretty, in their deep purple tint, varying 

 to pale lilac, and clustering amid their chocolate-coloured floral leaves. The 

 plant is common on dry places in most European countries, and it forms a 

 thick turf on some of the fields of Iceland, among which the whortleberries, 

 bearberries, and cranberries flourish in abundance ; while with its frequent 

 companion, the marjoram, it grows on the Himalayan Mountains of India, 

 at the height of 8,200 feet above the sea. The Germans call this plant 

 Thimian; the French Thym ; the Dutch, Gemeene thyiii ; the Italians, Teino ; 

 the Spanish, Tomillo ; the Poles, Tyiii, and the Danes, Iwiian. The old 

 French writers term it Pouliot-thym, and PiUolef, and it was formerly called in 

 this country, Puliall Mountaine, Pella Mountaine, and had besides the names 

 of Running Thyme, Creeping Thyme, Mother of Thyme, and Shepherd's 

 Thyme. Its leaves laid near the resorts of mice are said to drive these 

 animals from the place. 



Old writers, both in prose and verse, tell how sheep are improved by feed- 

 ing upon Thyme ; but the fact is that these animals, except by accident, or 

 when driven by hunger, leave untouched the aromatic herbs supposed to be 

 so beneficial to them, and no doubt these strong odours may always be 

 regarded as developed hy the plant in order to protect it from the attacks of 

 browsing animals. But the Thyme grows on downs and commons where the 

 air is pure and bracing and the pasturage sweet ; and sheep seem to have 

 been destined rather for hilly and mountainous, than for loAvland pastures 

 and turnip-fields, though they can be accommodated to the latter conditions. 



III.— 6 



