DAISY. 247 



spirit, and on inspissating the solution is left in great part be- 

 hind in both the extracts." He compares it to contrayerva, and 

 adds "though at present disregarded, it promises to become a 

 medicine of no small virtue." 



Medical Properties and Uses. — Whatever poetical fame 

 may have encircled the daisy's coronet, its reputation as a me- 

 dicine has dwindled almost to nothing. The ancient physicians 

 were very lavish in its praise, and for its supposed vulnerary 

 properties it received the Pharmacopoeial name of consoUda 

 minima. Fabricius * and Ettmuller-f- speak of its efficacy in 

 promoting the absorption of extravasated blood, whether from 

 wounds, contusions, or any other cause. Matthiolus affirms 

 that wounds of the thorax which have penetrated even its cavity 

 have been cured by this remedy ; and Konig % goes further 

 than this and asserts, that in lesion of the lungs it has proved 

 extremely beneficial. Hence it came to be considered as an 

 anti-pleuretic, and was prescribed in nearly all the diseases to 

 .vhich the lungs are incident ; also in liver complaints, agues, 

 dropsy, asthma, and scrofulous swellings. The expressed 

 juice §, or a decoction of the leaves and flowers was usually 

 given internally, and the bruised herb, either alone or mixed 

 with lard, was applied externally. Ettmuller || on the authori- 

 ty of Michaelis relates the case of a cook, who was cured of 

 an obstruction of the lungs by means of the expressed juice. 



Some of the moderns have esteemed it beneficial in phthisical complaints, 

 and it still occupies a place in a few of the continental pharmacopoeias. A 

 conserve is prepared with the flowers, and a syrup with the expressed juice : 

 the tincture of the flowers ^ contains a portion of sulphuric acid, to which 

 its reputed soothing and refrigerant properties are doubtless attributable. 

 The expressed juice of the plant, in the dose of half an ounce, is some- 

 times gi%'en by the poor to their infants as a laxative ; they also consider it 

 a remedy for fluor albus. The root of this plant, which is, as already ob- 

 served, the most potent in sensible qualities, may probably be found at 

 some future day not inert as a medicine. 



• In Simon Pauli Quadrip. p. 29. 



+ Opera Bled. vol. i. p. 523. 



t Regn. veg. p. 755. 



§ " The juice of the leaves and roots," says Gerard, " snift vp into 

 the nosthrils purgeth the head mightily of foule and filthy humors and 

 helpeth the megrim. * * • The leaves stamped, take away bruises and 

 swellings ; whereupon it was called in old time Bruisewort." Lib. cit. p. 637. 



II Loco cit. See also Alindererus in Medic. Melit. p. 77 ; Eysel Bellido- 

 graph, p. 26; and Bechstein, " Concise History of Plants," Leipsic, 1797, 



^ Pharmacopeia Wiirtembirgica. 



