THE ELDER. 321 



grewel for a breakfast, has effected wonders in a fever; 

 and the decoction is admirable to assuage inflammation. 

 But an extract may be composed of the berries, which 

 is not only greatly efficacious to assist longevity, but is a 

 kind of catholicon [universal preventive] against all infirmi- 

 ties whatever : and of the same berries is made an incom- 

 parable spirit, which, drunk by itself, or mingled with 

 wine, is not only an excellent drink, but admirable in the 

 dropsy. The ointment made with the young buds and 

 leaves in May with butter is most sovereign for aches, 

 shrunk sinews, &c., and the flowers macerated in vinegar 

 not only are of a grateful relish, but good to attenuate and 

 cut raw and gross humours. And less than this could I 

 not say (with the leave of the charitable physician), to 

 gratify our poor woodman." Some of the above properties 

 the Elder certainly does possess, others perhaps are imagi- 

 nary ; nevertheless, Elder ointment, Elder-flower tea, and 

 Elder-berry wine are still popular medicines in the country. 

 The Elder is a rapidly growing tree while young, and is 

 remarkable for the stoutness of its shoots, which when a 

 year old are as large as those of most other trees at two 

 or three years of age. They are covered with a smooth 

 gray bark, and contain an unusual proportion of pith, 

 which is frequently used in electrical experiments. This 

 pith being easily removed, young branches are often made 

 into popguns and other toys ; and on this account the 

 Elder is sometimes called the Bore-tree. In ancient times 

 they were made into flutes and pipes ; hence the tree 

 acquired the name Sambucus, from sambuca, a kind of 

 musical instrument. 1 The branches do not grow so rapidly 

 after the first year : no new pith is formed, and that which 

 is formed already is compressed by the fresh layers of 

 wood, so that in old stems the quantity scarcely exceeds 

 the proportion usually found in other trees. The leaves 



1 " Countrymen believe, " says Pliny (book xvi. chap, xxxvii.), 

 ' ' that the most sonorous horns are made of Elder which has grown 

 where it never heard the cock crow. " 



p 3 



