4 FAMILY HERBAL. 



England, but not common. It grows in woods, 

 and has beauitiful purple and yellow flowers. 

 It is a foot high, The leaves are oval and 

 heart-fashioned, deeply indented at the edges, 

 and of a dusky green. The stalks which pro- 

 duce the tiowers, are weak, brittle, and gene- 

 rally crooked; the flowers stand in a kind of vert 

 loose spike, ten or a dozen upon the top ; they 

 are small, but very singular and conspicuous ; 

 they are purple on the back with a red edge, and 

 yellow in the middle. The root is fibrous and 

 creeping. 



It was an opinion with the old writers, that 

 this plant produced no tiowers ; but the occa- 

 sion is easily known. When it stands exposed to 

 sun, it seldom does (lower ; we see that in gardens 

 where it is planted in such situations, for it will 

 stand many years without flowering ; but our 

 woods favour it, being dark and damp : the old 

 people saw it in Manner climates, and under an 

 unfavourable exposure. They called it from this 

 circumstance, as well as from its virtues, by a 

 name, which expressed being barren and fruit- 

 less. 



The people in the north give milk in which 

 the roots have been boiled, to the females of the 

 domestic animals when they are running after 

 the males, and they say it has the certain effect 

 of stopping the natural emotions. Plain sense 

 leads these sort of people to many things. They 

 have from this been taught to give it to young wo- 

 men of robust habits, subject to violent hysteric 

 complaints, and I am assured with great success ; 

 they give the decoction of the root made strong 

 and sweetened. 'Twas a coarse allusion that led 

 the r. to the practice, but it succeeds in cases that 

 foil all 'be parade of common practice. It is said 

 that, if they take it in too large quantity, it reu- 



