CULINARY HERBS 55 



will say it is used for little else nowadays than for 

 making a tea to give babies for wind on their stom- 

 achs. Strange, but true it is ! Similar statements 

 if not more remarkable ones could be made about 

 many of the other herbs herein discussed. Many of 

 these are spoken of as ''formerly considered specific" 

 for such and such troubles but *'now known to be 

 inert." 



The cause is not far to seek. An imaginative and 

 superstitious people attached fanciful powers to 

 these and hundreds of other plants which the inter- 

 vening centuries have been unable wholly to eradi- 

 cate, for among the more ignorant classes, especially 

 of Europe, many of these relics of a dark age still 

 persist. 



But let us not gloat over our superior knowledge. 

 After a similar lapse of time, may not our vaunted 

 wisdom concerning the properties of plants look as 

 ridiculous to the delver among our musty volumes ? 

 Indeed, it may, if we may judge by the discoveries 

 and investigations of only the past fifty years. Dur- 

 ing this time a surprisingly large number of plants 

 have been proved to be not merely innocuous instead 

 of poisonous, as they were reputed, but fit for 

 human food and even of superior excellence I 



THE HERB LIST 



Angelica {ArchangcUca officinalis, HoFm.), a bien- 

 nial or perennial herb of the natural order Umbel- 

 liferse, so called from its supposed medicinal quali- 

 ties. It is believed to be a native of Syria, from 



