THE COMMON NETTLE. 9 



home, that the climate of Britain was so cold that 

 it was not to be endured without some friction to 

 warm their blood/' The principal argument against 

 the tradition appears to be, that even the hardy 

 Romans would scarcely regard the stinging of net- 

 tles as a pleasurable warmth. But in urging this, 

 we forget that the seeds were probably brought 

 over, not for the sake of mere comfort, but as a 

 remedy in extreme cases of paralysis and insensi- 

 bility from cold ; and also, that though the sting is 

 most virulent when so lightly touched as to permit 

 the finely-pointed but yielding hairs to make an 

 orifice through which to pour their poison into the 

 system, yet, that when firmly pressed, their power 

 of penetrating the skin is lost, and the acrid juice 

 is harmless ; merely imparting, when employed in 

 friction, a gentle sensation of warmth. Or, to speak 

 in the truthful words of Withering ; " Would you 

 touch a nettle without being injured by it ? Take 

 hold of it stoutly. Do the same by other annoy- 

 ances, and hardly anything will disturb you ; grap- 

 ple with difficulties, and you overcome them/' We 

 have, moreover, positive information that the nettle 

 has been used as a counter-irritant, as well as a 

 stimulant in paralysis ; and Cardan recommends 

 brushing with nettles to "let out melancholy;" 

 respecting which prescription Lord Bacon says, 

 " We have no good opinion of it, lest thro' the 

 venomous quality of the nettle it may, with often 

 use, breed diseases of the skin/' A more reasonable 

 objection than that already stated, appears to us to 

 be the account which Caesar himself gives of the 



B 3 



