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qualities to water and alcohol. As a tonic, 

 it has been used from remote times and it 

 is said that the Swiss macerate the plants 

 in cold water, the sugar they contain 

 causingf fermentation which results in a 

 spirituous liquor, bitter and unpleasant, 



but much used by them. The root is 

 found as an ingredient in many of the 

 ancient receipts transmitted from the 

 Greeks and Romans, and is still employed 

 in a great variety of complaints. 



Charles S. Raddin. 



TO THE FRINGED GENTIAN. 



Thou blossom bright with autumn dew, 

 And colored with the heaven's own blue, 



That openest when the quiet light 

 Succeeds the keen and frosty night. 



Thou comest not when violets lean 



O'er wandering brooks and springs unseen. 



Or columbines in purple dressed, 



Nod o'er the ground-bird's hidden nest. 



Thou waitest late, and com'st alone, 



When woods are bare and birds are flown, 



And frosts and shortening days portend 

 The aged year is near his end. 



Then doth thy sweet and quiet eye 



Look through its fringes to the sky. 

 Blue — blue — as if that sky let fall 



A flower from its cerulean wall. 



I would that thus when I shall see 



The hDur of death draw near to me, 

 Hope, blossoming within my heart. 



May look to heaven as I depart. 



William Cullen Bryant. 



