184 ENGLISIL BOTANY. 
to have been valued as a herb medicine, and in the days of Gerarde it was used at 
table, as we gather from his account of it. He says: “ Horseradish, for the most part, 
groweth and is planted in gardens, yet have I found it wild in sundrie places, as at 
Nantwich in Cheshire, in a place called the Milne Eye, as also at a small village neare 
London called Hogsden, in the field next to a farme-house leading to Kingsland, where 
my very good friend Mr. Bredwel, practitioner in phisicke, a learned and diligent 
searcher of simples, and Mr. William Martin, one of the fellowship of Barbers Surgeons, 
my deare and lovinge friende, in company with him, found it and gave me knooledge 
of the place where it flourishes to this day.” He adds: “ Horseradish stamped with 
a little vinegar put thereto is commonly used among the Germans for sauce to eat fish 
with and suchlike meats as we do mustard; but this kind of sauce doth heat the 
stomach better, and causeth better digestion than mustard.” In the following century 
it was employed in England as a condiment ; for Robert Turner, in his “ British Phy- 
sician,” published 1687, after informing us that this herb is ‘under the dominion of Mars, 
and is hot and dry in the third degree,” says it was eaten with “fish ” and “ other meats” 
like mustard. The whole plant contains the essential oil to which its pungency is 
due, but it abounds chiefly in the root, which was formerly in great repute as a 
vermifuge for children, Gerarde and Coles both recommend it; Boerhaave speaks 
highly of it in scurvy ; it is also said to have been useful in many chronic disorders, 
and was employed in dropsies and diseases of the kidneys. Thomas Bertholini affirms 
that the juice of Horseradish dissolved a calculus of stony concretion that was taken 
out of the human body. An infusion of the root in cold milk makes one of the safest 
and best cosmetics. Einhoff discovered that the acrimony of the Horseradish is 
owing to a volatile oil of a pale yellow colour, and which has the consistence of oil 
of cinnamon. The liquid obtained from the root gives traces of sulphur by distillation. 
The tincture deposits crystals of sulphur, which are of a yellow colour, and when exposed 
to flame exhales a peculiar sulphuric odour; this is no doubt the case with all Cruci- 
ferous plants, which contain more or less traces of sulphur in their tissues. The resem- 
blance of the Horseradish root to that of the Monkshood (Aconitum Napellus) has often 
led to fatal mistakes. The root of the Aconite is much darker than that of Horse- 
radish, and is more given to produce fibrillze and secondary rootlets. 
Sus-Grenus IT.—EU-COCHLEARIA. 
Valves reticulated, with a dorsal nerve. 
SPECIES IT—COCHLEARIA POLYMORPHA.* 
Prarrs OXXX. CXXXI. CXXXII 
Root slender. Stem with a few spreading or ascending branches 
at the top. Leaves fleshy; the radical ones on long stalks, reni- 
form or roundish, cordate at the base, margin entire or slightly 
crenate; stem leaves angular or toothed; the uppermost sessile, 
sub-rhomboidal or oblong, semi-amplexicaul. Pods globular or 
* T have given this species the name of Polymorpha, as several Linnean species 
are combined under it. 
