VERVAIN. 373 



The description given by Dioscorides of his u^a, Qoruvm agrees 

 tolerably well with this plant. Provincial names of the Vervain 

 are, as Gerard informs us, Holy herb, Juno's tears, Mercury s 

 moist blood, Pigeon's grass, and Columbine. 



Vervain was not only employed as above mentioned to adorn 

 the altars for sacrifice, but was worn as a chaplet by heralds who 

 were commissioned to announce peace or war, and it is said to 

 have been used in the league between Tullus Hostilius, the 

 third king of Rome, and the Albans. It was also used by ma- 

 gicians in their enchantments, and by the Druids in their sacred 

 rites, and was gathered by them with nearly as much superstitious 

 reverence as the misseltoe. It likewise formed a celebrated in- 

 gredient in love philtres, and was dedicated to Isis, the goddess 

 of birth. 



The foliage of this plant is eaten by sheep, and the flowers 

 are visited by bees. 



Qualities. — Vervain is inodorous, and has a slightly bitter 

 and astringent taste, which it yields to water by infusion. The 

 infusion, which is of the colour of tea, is rendered at first green- 

 ish and then black by sulphate of iron, throwing down by de- 

 grees a slight precipitate. 



Medicinal Properties and Uses. — Few plants have en- 

 joyed greater reputation among the ancients than the Vervain, 

 and have so completely lost it in modern times. It is probable 

 that the medicinal use of the plant originated in its employment 

 for sacrificial and cabalistic purposes. We will merely enume- 

 rate a few of the diseases in which it has been extolled;— jaun- 

 dice, dysentery, gout, ague, calculus, inveterate coughs, diseases 

 of the throat, ulcers, ophthalmia, wounds. It was frequently 

 worn suspended round the neck as an amulet, and Forestus * 

 relates a remarkable instance in which the bruised root worn in 

 this manner cured a most inveterate headache. Ettmullerf 

 and other more recent authors recommend a cataplasm of the 

 bruised plant to be applied to the head ; and in this way, with 

 the internal use of the distilled water, Hartmann J and De 



* Opera Om. lib. ix. obs. 52. 



f Colleg. Pharm. in Schrod. Op. t. i. p. 713. 



X Prax. Chym. torn. i. 



