454 &OHN DUNCAN, WEAVER AND BOTANIST. 



simple but effective means. When the doctor arrived, he 

 said at once that his life had been saved by the skilful use 

 of the " moos wabs."* John, who had then one of his blither 

 seasons, replied that he knew something better, which he 

 could have got at the end of the house if the snow had not 

 been on the ground, the remains of the severe winter the 

 Plantago major, Greater Plantain, or "the healing leaf" 

 already spoken of,f whose virtues were known and praised 

 by Pliny, George Herbert, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Shen- 

 stone, and many others. He said it was the best thing for 

 stopping bleeding and healing cuts he knew, as he had 

 often proved. He also said it was very good for allaying 

 thirst, but not nearly so good for feverish thirst as Water 

 Cress. How vital and tenacious are all ideas once truly 

 grasped and acted on, as in John's astonishing memory of 

 plants and their properties even in sickness and death ! 



When the doctor was mixing a soothing draught for his 

 patient, John inquired what he was compounding, for his 

 eyes were still as keen as in younger days and his old 

 medical instincts all alive. The doctor told him it was 

 Hyoscyamus niger, or Henbane^ and remarked that he had 

 not found it in the Vale of Alford, but that he had seen it 

 at Dunnottar, when he was a student in company with 

 Professor Dickie. At once John's infirmity was forgotten 

 under the charm of the thousand associations stirred by 

 that one word, Dunnottar, and he talked of his youthful 

 adventures and its Covenanting memories. To the last, the 



* Spiders' webs. The word is Teutonic, originally meaning moss, 

 and applied to things like it, as the Scotch word, and the French 

 mousse, moss or foam, 

 t See p. 94. J See p. 19. 



