144 SYLVA FLORIFERA. 



wood becomes hard and fit for the use of the 

 turner. 



We learn from Pliny, that the berries of 

 this shrub were in ancient times given to 

 chickens to cure them of the pepia, or pip, a 

 disease that often destroys whole broods of 

 poultry, and which is caused by a thin white 

 skin or film that grows under the tip of the 

 tongue, and hinders their feeding. It usually 

 arises from want of water, or from the drink- 

 ing of puddle-water, or eating filthy meat. It 

 may be cured by pulling off the film with the 

 fingers, and rubbing the tongue with salt. 

 Hawks are particularly liable to this disease, 

 especially from feeding on stinking flesh. 



" See man from nature rising slow to art ! 

 To copy instinct then was reason's part ; 

 Thus then to man the voice of nature spake — 

 Go, from the creatures thy instruction take : 

 Learn from the birds what food the thickets yield ; 

 Learn from the beasts the physic of the field." 



Pope. 



Old medical writers tell us that the leaves 

 and flowers of privet are cooling, drying, and 

 restringent, good for ulcers and inflammations 

 of the mouth and throat, bleeding of the gums, 

 and relaxation of the uvula. 



The leaves of this plant give a faint tine- 



