THE ENGLISH PHYSICIAN ENLARGED, 209 



drink it; briefly it is very profitable to the stomach. The 

 often use hereof is a very powerful medicine to stay 

 women's courses and the whites. Applied to the fore- 

 head and temples, it easeth the pains in the head, and is 

 good to wash the heads of young children therewith, 

 against all manner of breaking. out, sores or scabs therein^ 

 and healeth the chops of the fundament. It is also pro- 

 fitable against the poison of venomous creatures. The 

 distilled water of mint is available to all the purposes 

 aforesaid, yet more weakly. But if a spirit thereof be 

 Tightly and chemically drawn, it is much more powerful 

 than the herb itself. Simeon Sethi saith, it helpcth a cold 

 liver, strengtheneth the belly, causeth digestion, stayeth 

 vomits and the hiccough ; it is good against the gnawing 

 of the heart, provoketh appetite, taketh away obstruc- 

 tions of the liver, and stirrcth up bodily lust ; but there- 

 fore too much must not be taken, because it maketh 

 the blood thin and wheyish, and turneth it into choler, 

 therefore cholerick persons must abstain from it. It is a 

 safe medicine for the biting of a mad dog, being bruised 

 with salt, and laid thereon. The powder of it being 

 dried and taken alter meat, helpeth digestion, and those 

 that are splenetick. Taken with wine, it helpeth women 

 in their sore travail of child-bearing. It is good against 

 the gravel and stone in the kidnies, and the stranguary. 

 Being smelled unto, it is comfortable for the head and 

 memory. The decodlion hereof gargled in the mouth, 

 cureth the gums and mouth that are sore, and mendeth aa 

 ill-favoured breath, as also the rue and coriander, causeth. 

 the palate of the mouth to turn to its place, the decodlion 

 being gargled and held in the mouth. I have frequently 

 cured and healed many young ladies of weak delicate 

 relaxed and consumptive habits of body by ordering them 

 to go with the maid a milking for a few mornings, and 

 take with them a new laid egg beaten up with a large 

 table spoonful of Rum, and a little Spear Mint cut small, 

 to which add about a tea cup full of new milk from the 

 cow ; this being beaten all together in a bason and drank 

 in the field, together with the addition of the morning air, 

 have done wonders. 



The virtues of the Wild or Horse-mint, such as grow 

 in ditches (whose dcscriptiou I purposely omitted^ in re- 



