246 FAMILYHERBAL. 



The nutmeg is an excellent spice, it strengthens 

 the stomach, and assists digestion. It will stop 

 vomitings, and is good against the colic. When 

 roasted before the fire, and mixed with a small quan- 

 tity of rhubarb, it is the best of all remedies against 

 purging*. 



O. j 



Oak. Quercus. 



A noble and stately tree, native of our coun- 

 try, and no where growing to so great perfection. 

 It is very tall, and though irregular in the dispo- 

 sition of its branches, that very irregularity has its 

 beauty ; the trunk is very thick ; the branches are 

 also thick, and often crooked : the bark is brown and 

 rough : the leaves are large, oblong, broad, and 

 deeply cut in at the edges, and they are of a shining 

 green. The flowers arc inconsiderable. The fruit 

 is the acorn, well known. Galls are produced upon 

 the oak, not as fruit, but from the wounds made by 

 an insect. 



The bark of the oak is a very powerful astrin- 

 gent ; it stops purgings, and overflowings of the 

 menses, given in powder ; a decoction of it is ex- 

 cellent for the falling down of the uvula, or as it 

 is called the falling down of the palate of the mouth. 

 Whenever a very powerful astringent is required, 

 oak bark demands the preference over every thing : 

 if it were brought from the East Indies, it would be 

 held inestimable. 



Scarlet Oak. Ilex. 



A shrub not much regarded or its own ac- 

 count, but from the insect called kcrmes, which 



