OF HERBS IN MEDICINE 171 



when_ notwithstanding being rightly prepared, and 

 administered in a convenient dose, it is a very harm- 

 lesse and wholesome medicament. The Ancients indeed 

 thought it to bee poyson, but that is onely when it is 

 taken in too great a quantity." One wonders what ex- 

 periences " the people " went through to learn this terror 

 of the drug ! Gerarde and Parkinson both commend it 

 as a medicine that " mitigateth all kinde of paines," but 

 say that it must be used with great caution. Browne 

 refers to the poppy's power of soothing. 



'■ Where upon the limber grass 

 Poppy and mandragoras, 

 With like simples not a few 

 Hang for ever drops of dew. 

 Where flows Lethe without coil, 

 Softly like a stream of oil. 

 Hie thee, thither, gentle Sleep." 



In The Inner Temple Masque. 



It is from the seed of the White Poppy {Papaver somnl- 

 feruni) that opium is prepared, and that procured from 

 poppies grown in England is quite as good, and often 

 purer, than opium imported from the East. The first 

 poppies that were cultivated in this country for the pur- 

 pose were grown by ^Ir John Ball of Williton about 

 1794. Timbs qno:e5 : " ' Cowley Plantarium. In old 

 time the seed of the w.-ite poppy carched was served up 

 as a dessert.' By this we are reminded that white poppy 

 seeds are eaten to this day npon bread made exclusively 

 for Jews. The -rvv-is:' bread is generally prepared by 

 brushing over the o'jrside upper crust with egg and 

 sprinkling upon 1: :r.e seeds." In GeTiaa.nj, Afond-kuchen, 

 a kind o: pas:ry in which poppy seeds are mixed, is still 

 a favourite dish. iL:r^-:.i.rr.en 'ruGon-flowers) is a name 

 not uimatnrallT giren to poppies, as they have been 

 emblems of sleep erer =ir;e the Greeks used to repre- 

 sent their deities zi Sleep, Death and Night as crowned 

 with thern. 



