274 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



century, says, a purgative of powerful virtues 

 may be extracted from the Gratiola in a dry 

 state, which operates in a small dose, and 

 without any disagreeable taste. 



Dr. James says, hyssop is healing, opening, 

 and attenuating ; good to cleanse the lungs 

 of tartarous humours, and helpful against 

 coughs, asthmas, difficulty of breathing, and 

 cold distempers of the lungs ; it is also reck- 

 oned a cephalic, and good for diseases of 

 the head and nerves. 



Of the efficacy of hyssop, in sugillations 

 of the eyes, we learn an instance from Rio- 

 lanus the elder : I found by experience," 

 says that physician, " the truth of what Ar- 

 chigenes affirms, in Galen, which is, that if 

 the tops of hyssop be tied up in a cloth, and 

 boiled in water, and the cloth afterwards ap- 

 plied warm to the livid eye, the blood will 

 be attracted by the hyssop to such a degree, 

 as to stain the linen. Upon this authority 

 I have, several times, prescribed a decoction 

 of hyssop against sugillations, even of the 

 eyes ; only, instead of water, I sometimes 

 ordered the bag to be boiled in wine ; and, 

 directing the application of it, somewhat 

 warm, to the eye-lids, when the patient went 



