142 WILD FLOWERS. 



suppose that in the fabulous, as in the moral, world 

 evil frequently proves its own most efficient remedy ; 

 for in Bokhara, where the ordinary remedy for 

 cholera is a compound of garlic, oil of almonds, and 

 water in which wheaten bran has been steeped, we 

 are especially assured that the office of the garlic is 

 exorcisial rather than medicinal ; that, it is given to 

 drive out the evil spirit which causes the disease ! 

 while the Polish miners are said to murmur, " garlic ! 

 garlic ! " in order to drive away evil spirits. The 

 Afghans, as Elphinston informs us, rub their lips and 

 noses with garlic when they go out in the heat of 

 summer, affirming that it secures them from the evil 

 effects of the simoom ; and, indeed, both there, and 

 in other Eastern countries, large quantities of it are 

 eaten at the periods when these winds prevail. In 

 fact the whole tribe possesses medicinal qualities, 

 which probably reside in the acid juices and the 

 essential oil, which may be obtained by distillation, 

 and which, like the oils of several of the Siliquosce, 

 sinks in water.* This oil acts on the skin as a 

 blister, and the whole plant is irritant, stimulant, 

 diuretic, and diaphoretic, containing free phosphoric 

 acid, which, with the sulphuretted oil, is almost 

 dissipated by boiling or roasting.f On account of 

 these properties, the garlic (A. savitum) (which is 

 also esteemed anti-scorbutic), is still, I believe, me- 

 dicinally recognised, though not exactly for the 

 powers attributed to it in the " Stockholm Manu- 

 script/' according to which, it will, when mixed 



* See Ehind's " Hist, of the Vegt. King." 

 t Balfour, " Man. of Bot." 



