OF HERBS IN MEDICINE 169 



in the hands of amateur doctors, who prescribe them for 

 cancer. In the Highlands, it is said, they were used for 

 the complexion, and a recipe is translated from the 

 Gaelic, " Anoint thy face with goat's milk in which 

 violets have been infused, and there is not a young 

 prince on earth who will not be charmed with thy 

 beauty." The Greater Celandine was once dedicated to 

 the sun, and it is still recommended as being good for 

 the eyes, though not by members of the faculty. The 

 following advice was given me by an old Cornish 

 woman, but I am almost sure the flower she spoke of 

 was the Lesser Celandine. This probably arose from a 

 confusion of the two flowers, as I have never heard 

 or seen the Lesser Celandine elsewhere commended for 

 this purpose. " Take celandines and pound them with 

 salt. Put them on some rag, and lay it on the inside of 

 the wrist on the side of whichever eye is bad. Change 

 the flowers twice a day, and go on applying them till 

 the eye is well. Put enough alum to curdle it, into 

 some scalded milk. Bathe the eyes with the liquid 

 and apply the curds to the place." 



Green Oil made after the following recipe has 

 often proved beneficial for slight burns and scalds, 

 and smells much nicer than the boracic ointment usually 

 ordered for such injuries. It is also recommended 

 for fresh wounds and bruises. " Take equal quantities 

 of sage, camomile, wormwood and marsh-mallows, pick 

 them clean and put them into sweet oil and as much of 

 it as will cover the herbs ; if a quart add a quarter of a 

 pound of sugar, and so on in proportion. Let them stand 

 a week without stirring, then put them into the sun for 

 a fortnight, stir them every day. Strain them with a 

 strong cloth very hard, and set it on a slow fire with 

 some red rose-buds and the young tops of lavender, let 

 them simmer on a slow fire for two hours, strain off' the 

 oil, and put to it a gill of brandy. (If some hog's lard 



