368 GROUND-IVY. 



and subsequently very pungent."* Sulphate of iron speedily 

 blackens the aqueous infusion. 



Medicinal Properties and Uses. — Ground-Ivy ranks among 

 those plants which have been at one time extravagantly lauded 

 and at another unduly neglected. Its properties have been 

 described by different authors as tonic, stomachic, aperient, 

 diuretic, expectorant, vulnerary, errhine, &c., and it was hence 

 considered a potent remedy in pulmonary + and nephritic X 

 complaints, dropsy, dyspepsia, hypochondriasis, and colic. 

 It is still resorted to by the poor for the cure of obsti- 

 nate coughs ; they use it in the form of tea sweetened with 

 honey, liquorice, or sugar, and frequently experience its bene- 

 ficial effects. In the early stage of consumption the free use of 

 the infusion has been strongly recommended, and for its sedative 

 qualities it has likewise been employed in cases of insanity and 

 melancholy with decided benefit. Mead§ speaks of its being 

 usefully joined with fermenting ale, in gravel and other diseases 

 of the kidneys. Ray || asserts that the expressed juice snuffed 

 up the nostrils, has cured the most violent and inveterate head- 

 aches. 



It may be given in substance in the form of powder, or in 

 pills, or suspended in any convenient liquid, to the amount of 

 two or three scruples. Of the expressed and clarified juice 

 (which is the best form) a wine-glassful may be administered 

 twice or thrice a day. The infusion^ in water, either alone or 

 with the addition of elecampane leaves and liquorice root, may 

 be taken at pleasure. The conserve and syrup have not much 

 efficacy, but the extract is a good substitute for the expressed 

 juice. 



* Lewis, Mat. Med. p. 300. 



•f Willis, Pharm. rat. sect. I.e. 6. — Morton, Phthisiologia, lib. iii. cap. 5. 



Riv. Prax. P. 1. p. 349 Ettmuller, Opera, t. i. p. 580. (ed Westphali.)— 



Scardona, Aphorismi, lib. ii. p. 69. — Sauvages Nosol. t. iii. p. 2. cap. De 

 phthisi. 



J Pauli Quadrip. bot. p. 74-— Sennertus Opera, t. iii. p. 576. — Plater 

 Prax. torn. ii. p. 499 — Revsn. Obs. med. p. 90. apud Welsch. 



§ Monita et praecep. med. p. 97- 



II Hist. Plant, torn. i. p. 567- 



^ The Dutch, by repeated infusions of the plant in gin, make a kind of 

 tincture which they esteem very efficacious in the gravel. 



