758 



V IT 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



VIT 



along the inner side of the seed to its very top, then reflected 

 to the back, and finally entering the navel ; the seeds natu- 

 rally five, but generally fewer, others have not discovered 

 more than two, and in some berries they are all abortive. 

 The Vine was gradually introduced into the different coun- 

 tries of southern Europe from the East, where we know it 

 was cultivated from the time of Noah. In the age of Homer 

 it grew wild in the island of Sicily, and probably in the 

 adjacent continent, but it appears not to have been improved 

 by cultivation, nor did the rude inhabitants extract the 

 liquor from it. A thousand years afterwards, Italy could 

 boast, that of the fourscore most generous and celebrated 

 wines, more than two-thirds were the productions of her own 

 soil. The blessing was soon communicated to the Narbonese 

 province of Gaul ; but so intense was the cold to the north 

 of the Cevennes, that in the time of Strabo it was thought 

 impossible to ripen grapes in those parts of Gaul. This 

 difficulty, however, was gradually vanquished, and there is 

 some reason to believe that the vineyards of Burgundy are 

 as old as the age of the Antonines. In the beginning of the 

 fourth century, the orator Eumenius speaks of the Vines in 

 the territory of Autun, which were decayed through age, and 

 the first plantation of which was totally unknown. It seems 

 probable that the degenerate Romans might introduce the 

 Vine into Britain, during their establishment in the island : 

 at least there is little doubt that vineyards were common 

 appendages to abbeys and monasteries, which were frequently 

 filled with foreigners, to whom wine was a necessary article 

 of diet. It is natural also to suppose that the propagation 

 of the Vine would be first attempted in the southern parts of 

 our island ; accordingly the neighbourhood of Winchester 

 was formerly famous for vineyards, and the very name of the 

 city, Wine-chester, affords a strong corroboration. In the 

 neighbourhood of Canterbury, Vines were common ; and a 

 large piece of ground adjoining to Rochester, is now called 

 the Vine, as also is another at Sevenoaks. In Sussex, Essex, 

 Middlesex, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Northamptonshire, Lei- 

 cestershire, and even as far north as Darley Abbey, in the 

 county of Derby, vineyards are known to have existed. 

 Within the walls of the Metropolis, there is a street called 

 the Vineyard ; there is also a Vine-street Hatton Garden ; and 

 The Vineyards, by Houndsditch and Coldbath Fields. Hence 

 we may fairly conclude, that there were many vineyards in 

 England for several centuries since the Conquest ; and the 

 principal cause of their being at length neglected in this 

 country, probably was, that better wine could be procured 

 at a cheaper rate from the French provinces then in our 

 possession ; at the same time that the advancement of agri- 

 culture contributed to their being relinquished. Although, 

 in favourable soils and situations, with proper management, 

 our Vines will often produce abundance of such fruit as may 

 yield good wine ; still, from the variable nature of our climate, 

 it appears impossible to attain this object upon a large scale. 

 Nor is it desirable that our soil should be so occupied, while 

 Portugal, Spain, Italy, and France, can so abundantly sup- 

 ply us with their delicious vintages, and will take our manu- 

 factures in return. The Vine is not generally reputed to be 

 a tree, though in its wild state it grows to a considerable 

 size; but is rather a trailing shrub. It has, however, grown 

 so large as to furnish bulk sufficient to make a statue of 

 Jupiter, columns for a pagan temple, and planks for the 

 doors of the great cathedral at Ravenna, which are twelve 

 feet in height, and the planks fourteen and fifteen inches 

 broad ; these, however, were grown in a soil and climate 

 celebrated for producing Vines of an enormous size, and the 

 wood is of a very lasting nature. Those Vines which are 



pruned and dressed, seldom grow large, because the vigour of 

 the stock is transfused into the branches, and there consumed 

 in bearing fruit. In our climate, especially, we cannot expect 

 to find many instances of its magnitude and longevity ; though, 

 in a genial soil and situation, it will attain an amazing size 

 and expansion, even in this country. The most famous Vine, 

 for the quantity of its produce, ever known in Great Britain, 

 is in a grape-house on the south side of Hampton Court 

 palace: it is of the Black Hamburgh kind, and occupies the 

 whole house, which is seventy feet by fourteen. This was 

 planted fifty years ago ; the stem is about thirteen inches in 

 girth, and the principal branch, having been trained back 

 at the extremity of the house, is one hundred and fourteen 

 feet in length. In one year this Vine has been known to 

 produce two hundred bunches of grapes, each, on an aver- 

 age, weighing one pound. The use of the fruit is so gene- 

 rally known, that it is unnecessary to enlarge upon it; we 

 shall therefore only state the medical qualities. Verjuice is 

 made of the unripe fruit, but that has been much superseded 

 by the juice of lemons, though it is still employed externally 

 in bruises and sprains. The dried fruit (raisins and currants) 

 is used as an agreeable, lubricating, acescent sweet in pec- 

 toral decoctions, and for blunting the acrimony of other 

 medicines, and rendering them grateful to the palate and 

 stomach. The general effects of wine are to stimulate the 

 stomach, exhilarate the spirits, warm the habit, quicken the 

 circulation, and promote perspiration : but taken in too large 

 quantities, it is but too well known to prove intoxicating and 

 powerfully sedative. In many disorders it is admitted to be 

 very serviceable, especially in typhus or putrid fevers, where 

 it often proves of more immediate advantage than the Peru- 

 vian bark. Delirium, the consequence of excessive irrita- 

 bility and a defective state of nervous energy, is often re- 

 moved by a free use of wine. In the putrid sore throat, in 

 the small-pox, when attended with great debility and symp- 

 toms of putrescency, in gangrenes, and even in the plague, it 

 is considered as a principal remedy; also in all cases of lan- 

 guor, and great prostration of strength, it is a more grateful 

 and efficacious cordial than can be furnished from the whole 

 class of aromatics. Vinegar, spirits of wine, and the very 

 best kinds of brandy, are likewise obtained by different pro- 

 cesses from this fruit, and the substance called tartar (of 

 which the cream of tartar, so well known as a gentle purga- 

 tive, is made) is only a salt of the grape, which sticks to the 

 wine-casks ; so that few vegetables furnish us with so great 

 a number of medicines as the Vine. This tartar consists of 

 the vegetable alkali supersaturated with acid, and is an offici- 

 nal article. Crystals of tartar are in common use as a laxa- 

 tive and mild cathartic, and also in the dropsy, besides being 

 employed in several officinal compositions. Vinegar is of 

 great use in almost all inflammatory and putrid disorders ; 

 and is very efficacious in counteracting the effects of vege- 

 table poisons. Inhaled in the form of a vapour, it is useful 

 in the putrid sore throat, and is much employed as a men- 

 struum for extracting the virtues of other medicines. The 

 leaves and the tendrils having an astringent acid taste, were 

 formerly used in diarrhoeas, haemorrhages, and other dis- 

 orders requiring refrigerant and styptic medicines. The 

 juice or sap has been recommended in calculous disorders; 

 and is reputed to be an excellent application to weak eyes, 

 and for specks of the cornea. Varieties of the Vine. These 

 are exceedingly numerous, and^might be indefinitely increas- 

 ed, if more attention were paid to raising it from seed, which 

 is seldom done, on account of the facility with which it may 

 be propagated by other methods. The varieties noticed by 

 Mr. Miller, are as follows : The July Grape, which is prin- 



