THE HERBALIST OF TO-DAY 



133 



complaints. Colt s-foot will cure bronchitis, and 

 Groundsel heal chapped hands. Eyebright makes 

 dim eyes see ; Plantain seeds can be used when 

 we run short of linseed ; and the darling little 

 Pimpernel, or Poor-Man's- Weather-glass — well, I 

 trust we shall not want to use that, for it is a 

 remedy for the bites of mad dogs ; it is also 

 supposed to remove all sadness. It is curious that 

 the Pimpernel should have won this character for 

 cheerfulness among the English ; a name for it in 

 Greek means to laugh. Next to the Speedwell, no 

 wild flower in Britain is more beloved than this. 



' No ear hath heard, no tongue can tell, 

 The virtues of the Pimpernel." 



Betony, a rather pretty wild flower found in 

 woods or shady meadows, was once the sovereign 

 remedy for all maladies of the head. An old 

 Italian proverb says : ' Sell your coat and buy 

 Betony.' The chief physician to the Emperor 

 Augustus wrote a whole book on nothing but the 

 merits of this plant, and its very name, from the 

 Celtic ben^ head, and tonic, good, is in its favour ; 

 yet, to tell the truth, modern chemistry fails to 

 discover why it was thought quite so much of. 

 That there is some virtue in the plant seems to be 



