11 



134 PARONYCHIA ARGYROCOMA. SILVERHEAD ; NAILWORT. 



En2:Hsh name, " Nailwort," at the head of this article, this 

 beins:, accordino^ to Prof. Wood, the common name for the 

 whole genus, although Dr. Gray gives " Whitlow-Wort " as the 

 English generic appellation. These two names are, however, 

 intrinsically identical, as will be seen from the following sketch 

 of the family history of our plant. [ ; 



One of the most famous, or perhaps the most famous, of the 

 medical writers of antiquity was Hippocrates, who is said to have 

 died in the year 377 B. C, at Larissa, in Greece. He is indeed i 



regarded as the father of modern medicine, and deserves espe- 

 cial recognition as being the first physician of whom we have ' 

 any knowledge, who taught that attention to diet in sickness is i 

 one of the best medicines. Hippocrates mentions a plant by 'il ^^^' 

 the name of Pai^onycJiia as a particularly effective remedy for 

 certain painful diseases of the nails and joints of fingers and 

 toes, called felons or whitlows. Some authors have supposed I ^^ 

 the plant spoken of by Hippocrates to be identical with some 

 species of the genus to which our Silverhead belongs, although 

 this is by no means beyond a doubt. Several of the old herb- [ I ''^, 

 alists thought that the true Paronychia of Hippocrates was 

 a Saxifrage. Others, again, conjectured it to be the little early- 

 flowering Draba vcrna, which is called " Whitlow-Grass" to this 1 Jipiiie 

 day ; while Sibthorp, finally, who made a special study of the ; 

 plants of Greece and of their ancient history, thinks it most ; 

 likely that Illccebruiii ParouycJiia is the plant, although he adds j||| .xtalsi 

 that even this opinion is still open to some doubt. But how- 

 ever this may be, the herb of Hippocrates can hardly have been 

 one of the species of the present genus Paronychia ; for that ; , :i>ses 

 careful old physician generally had some reason for the me- \ 

 dicinal virtues which he attributed to the remedies he em- 1 

 ployed ; and these modern Paronychias, beyond a trace of ' 

 astringency, which, according to Dr. Lindley, pervades the 

 whole order, seem to be destitute of any very marked medicinal | 

 properties. This slight astringency, however, may be worth | 1 

 noting, and is perhaps capable of being turned to good account. ; ' 



