ALDER. 67 



dyeing cotton. The Laplanders chew the 

 bark, and colour their leather garments red 

 with their saliva. The bark and the fruit 

 together yield a tolerably good ink. The 

 roots and knots furnish the cabinet-maker 

 with a beautiful veined wood. 



Having already noticed from the architect 

 of the ancients, that it was valuable to prop 

 up houses, we will now see what use our 

 ancestors made of it in propping up their 

 constitutions. In Lemery des Drogues, we 

 read that the bark and its fruit are cooling, 

 and proper for inflammations of the throat, 

 being used as a gargarism. Both Tragus and 

 Dodonaeus made use of the leaves of the alder 

 as a cataplasm, to soften and resolve tumours. 

 Dale tells us, that taken inwardly the leaves 

 are excellent vulneraries. Most of the old 

 medical writers sum up its various properties 

 by stating, that the leaves put into the shoes 

 of travellers, mitigate pain and lassitude. 

 This last receipt we particularly recommend 

 to those bulky subjects, who pass feverish 

 days and restless nights, because 



11 They never pass their brick- wall bounds, 



To range the fields, and treat their lungs with air." 



It is well known that the finest alder trees 

 are raised from seed; yet it is seldom, if ever, 



f 2 



