340 TANSY. 



quency of their gout." Moreover, it has been much esteemed 

 as a remedy in severe colics, and in calculous complaints. 



In the days of Gerard* it was a common custom, in the 

 spring season, to make cakes of the young leaves and eggs, and 

 these were eaten with the notion that they purged the body of 

 its foul humours ; so at the period Miller f wrote, " the good 

 wives " are reported to have made a syrup with the juice for 

 the laudable purpose of preventing miscarriage. The flowers 

 were formerly used as an anthelmintic J, and in the dose of 

 a drachm in powder, were given with success in hysteria §. 



Tansy has been applied externally in various forms, and 

 for various purposes, — as for scurf, tetters, and other diseases 

 of the skin, for sprains, contusions, and the like. It is 

 also useful in anodyne fomentations, combined with chamomile 

 flowers, feverfew, &c. Linnaeus || states that the Lapland wo- 

 men use it in the form of baths to facilitate parturition. It 

 may be given in powder from half a drachm to a drachm at a 

 dose; in lavements from one to three drachms' strength ; or of 

 the expressed juice, from one to four ounces. The infusion 

 made in the usual manner may be given in the dose of a cupful 

 every two hours, as a diaphoretic. The essential oil in the 

 quantity of a few drops on sugar will often give relief in colic 

 and flatulence. Other preparations of the herb may also be 

 employed, such as the aqueous, or spirituous extract, and the 

 tincture. The dose of the seeds is from half a drachm to 

 a drachm ; they may be taken bruised, in a glass of wine. 



* Herbal, p. 651. 



+ Miller Bot. p. 432. 



X S. Pauli, Quadrip. p. 566. 



§ Gherli Osservazioni rare, Cent. i. p. 188. 



|| " Vidi uxores Novaccolarum per Lapponiam et Rusticorum in Wes- 

 trobothnia sollicite colligere hanc plantam et exsiccare, nee in quem finem, 

 facile scire licuit ; tandem edoctus fui foeminas in iisdem locis inde con- 

 ficere balnea vaporis pro emolliendis adpropriatis membris instante partn 

 atque pro eodein facilius excludendo." — Fl. Lapp. p. 243. 



