168 



WILD FLOWERS. 



corides, though I am not aware that it is now con- 

 sidered "good against the bites of ser- 

 pents" as he affirms it to be. A. viridis 

 is given in the old herbals as a remedy 

 for chronic pains ; though whether this 

 signifies any particular species, or whether 

 it simply means the plant in a green 

 state, I cannot tell. The following, how- 

 ever, are the various maladies to which we 

 know it to be familiarly applied : fevers 

 (for which it is a favourite Canadian 

 prescription), asthma, relaxation of the 

 bronchial glands, cutaneous eruptions, 

 weakness of the stomach, for which, as 

 well as for jaundice, it is probably not 

 without beneficial effect, agues, inflam- 

 mations of the mouth, and haemorrhages 

 for the stoppage of which the genuine 

 old formula is of rather too appalling 

 a character to be adopted in the nine- 

 teenth century ; consisting, as it does, 

 of " agrimony, pounded frogs, and 

 human blood ! " Yet those who know 

 it best, tell us that though slightly tonic, its reme- 

 dial powers are very limited ; on which account 

 (though still, I believe, included in the London "Phar- 

 micopceia"), it is not now employed by the medical 

 profession. For my own part, though / ought to be 

 able to speak experimentally on the subject, having 

 been, in childhood, favoured with very considerable 

 quantities of never-to-be forgotten "agrimony tea," 

 I can only hint that I am not at all conscious of 



COMMON 

 AGRIMONY. 

 Agrimdnia, 

 Eupatoria. 



