102 WILD FLOWERS. 



And also in the curious old story so circumstantially 

 narrated of the man who, having been so fortunate 

 as to find the seed, wrapped it carefully in paper 

 and placed it in a box ; but on his return home found 

 that his treasure had disappeared, though the box 

 and the paper had evidently never been opened by 

 the beings who had thus revenged themselves by 

 " spiriting " away their contents. 



Some poetical old physician calls the tutsan 

 "Balm of the warrior's wound," in allusion to the 

 vulnerary and balsamic properties which it is sup- 

 posed to possess. This more especially applies to 

 the H. Androscemum,* the tutsan, properly so 

 called, which takes its trivial name from two Greek 

 words signifying man, and blood, in allusion to the 

 dark red juice which exudes from the fresh cap- 

 sules, when bruised. It was this part of the plant 

 therefore which in compliance with the " doctrine 

 of signatures" was applied to external wounds, and 

 very probably not without success, as the whole 

 tribe have astringent properties. Gerarde informs 

 us that the bruised leaves are good for burns, that 

 a decoction of the seeds drunk for forty days will 

 cure sciatica, and " take away" tertian, and quartan 

 agues. And in more modern times the plant has 

 been recommended as a febrifuge and also as an 

 anthelmintic, possessing as it does, bitter, purgative, 

 slightly astringent, and aromatic secretions in its re- 

 sinous juices : properties which, even without the 

 testimony of experience, give a contradiction to the 

 opinion expressed by Daniel, when he clothes in a 

 * The Androsaimum Officinale of De Candolle. 



