271 THE ENGLISH PHYSICIAN ENLARGED. 



senses. It is very comfortable to the stomach in all tlic 

 cold gritfs thereof, helpeth both retention of meat and 

 digestion, the decoction or powder being taken in wine. 

 It IS a remedy for windiness in the stomach, bowels, and 

 spleen, and expels it powerfully. It helpeth those that 

 are liver urown, by opening the obstru(^tions thereof. It 

 lielpefh dim e\ es, and i)rocureth a clear si^ht, the flowers 

 thereof being taken all the Mhile it is flowering, every 

 morning fasting, with bread and salt. Dioscorides and 

 Galen say, that if a decoftion be made thereof with wa- 

 ter, and they that have the yellow jaundice, exercise 

 tlieir bodies presently after the taking thereof, it will 

 certainly cure them. The flowers and conserve made of 

 them, are good to comfort the heart, and to expel the 

 contagion of the pestilence ; to burn the herb in houses 

 and chambers correc^teth (he air in them. Both the 

 flowers and leaves are profitable for women that are 

 troi'l)l(.d with the whites, if they be daily taken. 'I'he 

 dried leaves shred small, and taken in a pipe, as tobacco 

 is taken, helpt tli those that have any cough, phthisick, 

 cr consumption, by warming and drying the thin distil- 

 lations which cause those diseases. The leaves are much 

 used in bathings; made into ointments or oil, are good to 

 help cold benumbed joints, sinews, or members. The 

 chymical oil drawn from the leaves and flowers, is a 

 sovereign help for all the diseases aforesaid, to touch the 

 temples antl nostrils wi;h two or three drops for all the 

 diseases of the head and brain spoken of before ; as also 

 to take one drop, two or three, as tlie case requireth, for 

 the inward griefs ; yet it must be done with discretion, 

 for it is very quick and piercing, and therefore >ery little 

 must be taken at a time. There is also another oil made 

 by insolation in this manner. Take what quantity you 

 will of the (lowers, and put them into a strong glass, close 

 stopped, tie a fine linen cloth over the mouth, and turn 

 the mouth down into another strong glass, which being 

 set in the sun, an oil will distill down into the lower glass, 

 to be preserved as precious for divers uses, both inward 

 and outward, as a sovereign balm to heal the diseases be- 

 fore mentioned, to clear dim sights, and take away spots, 

 marks aad scars in the skiii. 



