FAMILY HERBAL. 209 



exceeding the ordinary ferns very much in delicacy. 

 The stalks are small, black, and glossy ; each divides 

 toward the top, into a great many brandies, and on 

 these stand the smaller leaves, which make up the 

 complete one, or the whole plant ; (for in this, 

 as in the fern, every leaf is an entire plant ; these 

 are short, blunt, rounded, and notched very beauti- 

 fully and regularly at the edges, and they are of a 

 pale green colour. The seeds are fixed to the edges 

 of the under side of the leaves, in form of a brown 

 powder. The whole plant is used : our druggists 

 have it from France. 



A decoction, of the fresh plant, is gently diuretic, 

 and opens obstructions, especially of the lungs ; 

 but as we cannot easily have it fresh, and it loses 

 a great deal of the virtue in drying, the best ex- 

 pedient is to use the fine syrup of capellaire, which 

 is made of an infusion of the plant, when in its per- 

 fection, with fine Narbonne honey. We suppose 

 this, a trifle, but Ixirley water sweetened with it, 

 is one of the best known remedies for a violent 

 caugh. 



English Maidenhair. Trichomancs. 



A very pretty little plant, of kin to tbie true 

 maidenhair, and frequently used in its place ; but 

 this is very wrong, for its virtues are no greater, 

 and it is unpleasant. It grows eight inches, and 

 each leaf, as in the rest of the fern kind, is an entire 

 plant. This leaf consists of a vast number of 

 small ones, set on each side a middle rib, and they 

 are very short and obtuse, of a roundish, but some- 

 what oblong figure. The stalk is slender, black, 

 and shining, and the little leaves are of a bright 

 i\nd strong S'reen colour. The seeds are Iodffed as 



