CHERVIL. 



169 



Qualities and general Uses. — This plant was formerly 

 much used as a salad and pot-herb. It is a pleasant addition to 

 soups, &c., and is reckoned very nutritive and wholesome ; a 

 very slight boiling is required, otherwise it loses its taste and 

 virtues. 



Chervil has an agreeable aromatic smell and a moderately 

 penetrating taste, resembling that of anise. Its aromatic pro- 

 perties are very fugitive, being speedily dissipated by boiling 

 and desiccation ; but the greater part of its virtues are extracted 

 by infusion either in alcohol or water. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — Chervil is slightly aro- 

 matic, gently aperient, diuretic, and lactiferous. Ehrhart* says 

 it is serviceable in obstructions of the mesenteric glands. Geof- 

 froy-f- extols it for removing obstructions of the viscera, for pre- 

 . venting the formation of calculi in the kidneys and bladder, for 

 promoting the menses, and for the cure of cutaneous diseases. 

 He also asserts that it favours the absorption of extravasated 

 blood, both external and internal. HallerJ employed it in 

 visceral obstructions also. Neither, according to Lange§, is it 

 less approved of in asthma, consumption, and slow fevers, the 

 juice been given alone, or mixed either with goat's milk or 

 gruel ; others prefer that the herb should be boiled in whey and 

 strained, of which a pint should be drunk every morning, or 

 that the juice should be evaporated to an extract, and an ounce 

 taken during the day]]. By Riverius ^ it was much used in 

 dropsy, and by Plenck ** in scrofula. Lastly, GeofFroy con- 

 sidered it hurtful in coughs and spitting of blood, which he found 

 to increase, and even to be brought on by long-continued use. 



The external application of Chervil, either in poultices or the 

 juice itself, has been found beneficial for many complaints. In 

 the form of a cataplasm, in combination w'ith fresh alder leaves 

 or linseed meal, it dissipates the milk and tumefactions in the 

 breasts of puerperal women. It should be applied to the bare 



* Ehrhart, Pflanzenhist, torn. v. p. 218, sq. 



f Geoffroy, Tract. Mat. Med. p. 295. 



+ Halleri, Hist, plant. Helv. n. 747- 



§ Lange, Brunsv. dom. p. 252. 



II Darel, Socken-Apot. p. 68, p. 191. 



f[ Prax. Med. 1. ii. cap. 6, de hydrope. 



•* Plenck. 3Iat. Chir. p. 300. 



