FEENS OF GREAT BEITAIIST. 107 



pendicular surface. It is a native of almost all tropical 

 lands. Few ferns would be more graceful adornments 

 to the sides of streams and pools, were it not so easily 

 injured by the frost in exposed situations ; though in the 

 Wardian case its greenness is to be seen as well in the 

 depth of winter as in the summer. The surface of the 

 frond is always so smooth that water runs from it. Pliny 

 had observed this, for he says, " In vain you plunge 

 the Adiantum in water ; it always remains dry." 



The fronds of this fern have, from earliest times, been 

 used in this country as a remedy in pulmonary com- 

 plaints. They yield, when boiling water is poured on 

 them, some degree of mucilage, and emit at the same 

 time a slight odour. That ancient writing known as the 

 Arundel MS. says of this plant — "It mundifyeth the 

 lunges, and the breste, and caccheth out wykede materes 

 in hem." While from the same authority we learn that 

 " Margery perles wastyn and fordon and cacchen out of 

 the body wykede humours." The Maiden-hair seems 

 to have been universally regarded as a cure for cough 

 and difficulty of breathing; and Kalm relates that the 

 American Indians have used it from time immemorial 

 for this purpose. John Ray cites it as a cure for innu- 

 merable maladies ; and later herbalists praised the decoc- 

 tion of the Maiden-hair, not as a remedy only for cough 

 and other pectoral complaints, but as also a cure for 

 jaundice, swollen joints, and many other diseases ; and 

 affirmed, that it " stayeth the falling or shedding of the 

 hair, and causeth it to grow thick, fair, and well- 

 coloured ;" though, in the preparation of the plant for 

 this purpose, the herb termed Smallage, which is our 



