WALNUT. 343 



The bark of the walnut-tree was considered a sovereign 

 remedy for the ringworm. The leaves bruised and 

 stamped with vinegar, and so applied, removed the pain 

 of the ears. 



After Mithridates was vanquished, Cneius Pompeius 

 found in his secret closet or cabinet, among many pre- 

 cious jewels, the receipt of a certain antidote against 

 poison, written in the hand-writing of Mithridates, in his 

 private note-book, as follows : 



" Take two dry walnut kernels, as many figs, of rue 

 twenty leaves ; stamp all these together into one mass, 

 with a grain or corn of salt. Whoever eats of this con- 

 fection in a morning, fasting, no poison shall hurt him 

 that day." 



Walnuts are considered stomachic : their oil is a good 

 medicine for the stone and gravel, and is of extraordinary 

 use to the painter, in mixing white and other delicate 

 colours, also for gold, size, and varnish. They eat it 

 instead of butter, at Berry in France, and burn it in 

 lamps, therefore these trees are cultivated with great care 

 in that neighbourhood. 



The oil of walnuts does not congeal by cold, and 

 answers the medicinal purpose of the oil of almonds. One 

 bushel of nuts will yield about fifteen pounds of peeled 

 and clear kernels, and that half as much oil, which the 

 sooner it is drawn the more in quantity, though the drier 

 the nut the better the quality. 



The bark of the tree is a strong emetic, either green, or 

 dried and powdered. The unripe fruit is used in medi- 

 cine for the destruction of worms, and is administered in 

 the form of an extract. If the water in which the outside 

 covering of walnuts has been steeped, be thrown on the 

 ground, the worms will immediately come out of the 

 earth : anglers often use this means to obtain bait for 

 fishing. 



