﻿224 Canadian Record of Science. 



Throat and lung troubles are very prevalent in the 

 Eastern Townships, and many old remedies for coughs are 

 still used. Elecampane has been already noticed, 

 hemlock (Tsuga Canadensis) is steeped and taken for 

 ordinary colds, and a decoction of horehound (Marruhucm 

 vidgarc) is esteemed by consumptives. More popular than 

 any other, however, is the Mullein (Verhascum thapsas), 

 once called the witches' taper. It is interesting to note 

 that in New England the mullein is made into a poultice 

 for tooth-ache. Gold-thread (Goptis trifolia), or "goold- 

 thread" as it is often called, is used for the cure of 

 sore throats. " Smellage" or smallage (Apium graveokns) 

 is considered an excellent purifier of the blood. The 

 plantain {Plantago major) is used for the healing of 

 wounds, and the application of a dock-leaf to the sting of 

 a nettle is as well known as the old English adage — 



"Nettle out, dock in — 



Dock remove the nettle sting, "i 



Applications of the dried and pulverized root of " yellow- 

 dock" {Rumcx hritannica) or of galium will at once, it 

 is believed, stop the bleeding of a wound. 



Although, in New England, plants with milky juice are 

 supposed to cause warts, in Clarenceville, the juice of 

 the milkweed {Asclepias cornuti) is considered an infallible 

 cure for them. 



Hops will allay pain and induce sleep. An ear-ache 

 may be cured by an onion poultice. The ash, which 

 in many places is considered a protection against serpents,^' 

 and with which a charm seems to have been always 

 connected, is another cure for an ear-ache. A piece of 

 root is cut, one end is charred in the fire, the sap oozing 

 from the other end is caught and dropped into the ear, 

 whereupon the pain ceases. Catnip, catnep, or catmint 

 {Nepcta cataria), so-called because cats love its odour and 



1 Dyer's Folk-Lore of Plants. 



2 Fiske's MyUiS and Myth-Makers. 



