264 LICHENES. 



Under the name of Eibtrjgrafisi the Marchantia is known to some 

 skilled in herhs as "the sovereign'st thing on earth" to cure a cold 

 or " a binding at the heart." Dec. 27, 1846. I found the wife of a 

 phthisical patient preparing a strong decoction of Liver-grass, which 

 a neighbour had commended as a certain cure for her husband. The 

 strained decoction is sweetened with sugar-candy or liquorice. In 

 the west of our district it has been long used, with success, in 

 dropsies. These popular remedies never fail*. And the Marchantia, 

 after some trials, principally in the Edinburgh Infirmary, has been 

 now introduced into regular practice. The few trials 1 have made 

 of it induce me to think that the remedy is uncertain, and inferior 

 to many others in diuretic virtue. 



V. LicHENES = %ici)m&. 



1. Endocarpon miniatum, y. N. On the linn in Humbledon 

 dean above Wooler, Sir W. C. Trevelyan, Bart. — B. In Reedy-burn, 

 often encrusting mosses, J. Hardy. 



2. Gyrophora proboscidea. N. On rocks near the summit 

 of Hedgehope ; and on Cheviot. 



3. G. CYLiNDRicA. N. Ou the Cheviots, plentiful.— B. On a 

 dyke in Bushiel dean and near Penmanshiel : Penmanshiel moor, 

 J. Hardy. See Bot. G. North, ii. p. 43. 



* From recent inquiry, I am led to believe that the race of Herbalists, 

 — the lineal descents of our Wizards and Weird- Sisters, — is more nume- 

 rous than I had previously suspected. An itinerant vender of " chap " 

 books tells me that he does not like to make a journey without two or 

 three copies of Culpepper's Herbal in his wallet. The edition he sells is a 

 thick 24mo, and has this title : — " Culpepper's Complete Herbal ; with 

 nearly four hundred medicines, made from EngUsh Herbs, physically 

 .applied to the cure of all Disorders incident to Man ; with Rviles for com- 

 pounding them. To which is now added. His English Physician enlarged, 

 forming a complete Family Dispensatory, and natural system of Physic. 

 Halifax: Milner and Sowerby, 1852." There is also an engraved title, 

 which tells us that this " British Herbal " is " by Nick' Culpepper, Student 

 in Physic and Astrology," and it is adorned with a group of flowers prettily 

 arranged and neatly etched. There are besides twenty-five " elegant " 

 copper-plates containing the figures of many of the most virtuous herbs ; 

 and we have all these, and about 450 closely printed pages, for the sum of 

 Is. 6d. The price is a proof of the extensive sale of the volume; and it is 

 a curious fact that a book stuffed with puerile conceits, folly and credulity, 

 should maintain itself alive, and exert so much influence. Yet, indeed. 

 Herbalists are not more believing than many philosophei-s of the day, who 

 play with claii'voyance, mesmeric trances and visions, and other phantasies ; 

 nor than the swallowers — and they are legion — of patent medicines ! less 

 innocuous than Culpepper's " simples." The Liverwort is of course one of 

 them. Culpepper informs us that " it is under the dominion of Jupiter, 

 and vmder the sign Cancer. It is a singular good herb for all diseases of 

 the liver, both to cool and cleanse it, and helpeth inflammations in any 

 part, and the ycUow jaundice likewise," &c. 



