28 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



appearances ; and as taste and smell are often quite suf- 

 ficiently objectionable, especially to children, the addition 

 of a few drops of Syrupus Rhceados to the prescription may 

 be considered not merely legitimate, but a real kindness. 

 It was in the Middle Ages supposed to be a remedy for 

 pleurisy, ague, and many other ailments. As some of our 

 readers may possibly recall to their memories the fact that 

 the opium of the medicine-chest is prepared from poppies, 

 we may, in conclusion, say that the drug- is not afforded 

 by the present species. The opium poppy is the native of 

 a sunnier clime, though it is from time to time found in a 

 state of cultivation in our English gardens. The narcotic 

 principle is found more or less in all the species of poppy, 

 the plants are therefore at times introduced both in art 

 and literature with a certain symbolism of meaning, from 

 this property of shedding a drowsy somnolency on those 

 who come beneath their influence. 



