The BRITISH HERBAL. 
7 
It is cooling and aftringent : and, to fpeak 
from experience, is excellent in diarrhceas where 
the ftools become bloody, and in overflowings of 
the menfes. The befb way of giving it is in pow- 
der, and its dofe is a fcriiple. The young leaves 
in an infufion are diuretick. 
I have tried it in intermittent fevers, and not 
wholly without fuccefs, though not with that de- 
gree of certainty which attends fome other medi- 
cines. From what experience fliews of the effi- 
cacy and fafety of this, and many of the roots of 
our own produ£t, we feem inexcufable in not 
purfuing thefe ufeful refearcbes. Botany, which 
has of late become a fcience much ftudied for cu- 
riofity, deferves to be much more cuitivatLd fur 
ufe. 
G E N U S V. 
TORMENTILL. 
rORMENTlLLJ. 
'y^HE flower of tormentill confifts of four petals, and has a tuft of threads in the middle. 
The leaves ftand feven upon a ftalk. 
This is one of the icofandria polygynia of Linnseus ; tho' It fliews the clafs of that author ill named, 
the threads in this being but fixtecn, whereas the word icofandria exprcfles twenty: himfelf ac- 
knowledges however, that the number twenty is not effential to the diftindion, tho' he has thence 
given the name. 
That author feems to have correfted himfelf alfo, for eftabliniing this as a diftinft genus. He 
acknowledges that it is an artificial, rather than a natural difliniflion ; but we wifh, for the fake ot 
thofe he has foinetimes mifled from the true end of this (ludy, that he had made more fuch errors. 
He was in the riglit here againlt his own correflion ; for torme?HiU., whofe flower confifts of four 
petals, is naturally diftinguifhed as a genus from cinquefoil, whofe flower has five. 
, Nature has alfo preferved the dillinftion, by allotting the number of feven leaves together on 
this plant, in which it diff^crs from the cinquefoil, which has but five : nor does it lefs differ from the 
pentaphylloides, which has the fame number, in their manner of growing : in thofe plants, they 
Hand in the pinnated form, each whulc leaf confifting of fcveral pairs and an odd one; but in tormen- 
till, they grow together from one point, as in the cinquefoil. 
On thefe diftincLions, by which it is fo perfcftly feparated from all the precedent, and all the fubfe- 
quent genera, tormentill has a right to a diftind place and name; and it is not LinniEus, who fepa- 
rated them, that errs i but he would do fo, who, following that author's fecond thoughts, Ihould 
join this and cinquefoil under one common name. 
We have in this incident, a ftrong inftance how far the love of fyftem will carry a man of know- 
ledge; it wili lead him to correct what he did, knowing it to be right, and compel him into what 
is plainly wrong afterwards. 
Of this genus there are but two known fpecies, and both are natives of England. 
I. Common Tormentill. 
I'ormentiUa vulgaris. 
The root is large, thick, and of an irregular 
Form ; of a brownifli colour on the outfide, red- 
ifli within; and furniflied with many fibres. 
The leaves that rife from the root are few, not 
deeply divided, and of fo little duration that they 
are rarely fcen. 
The ftalks are numerous, long, flender, red- 
ifli, and a little hairy. They often lie in part 
upon the ground; but fometimcs ftand upright, 
to the height of iix or eight inches. 
The leaves grow on them at diflances, and 
furround them. They are each compofed of 
feven which are oblong, narrowifli, and ferrated. 
Their colour is a dufl^y green, and they are a 
little hairy. 
The flowers ftand at the tops of the branches, 
and are fmall, but of a bright and beautiful yel- 
low. They are compofed each of four broad 
petals, and have a tuft of threads in the middle- 
When they are fallen the feed ripens in fmall 
heads. 
It is common on heaths and in dry paftures. 
Hampftead heath abounds with it. It flowers in 
July and Auguft.' The generality of authors de- 
fcribe it under the nam.e of tormentilla and tcr- 
vientilla vulgaris. 
It is an excellent aftringent. The root poffelTes 
the greateft virtue, and may be given in powder 
or in decoflion. In the firfl: way twelve grains is 
a dofe, in the latter an ounce and half may be put 
into three pints of water and boiled to a quart' 
Either way it is good in diarrh,-Eas and hcemor- 
rhages. 
Befide thefe it pofiefl"es the virtues of a fudo- 
rifick and cordial It is therefore one of the beft 
medicines the materia medica affords us in fevers 
attended with purging. 
It is at all times good in the fmall pox ; but 
when a diarrhcea comes on improperly in that dif- 
order nothing excels it. 
2. Creeping Tormentill. 
Tormsntilla refetans. 
This is a beautiful little plant, which PloC,- 
Morifon, and others, from its numerous ilowers^ 
ranked among the cinquefoils; but the plain 
diftinflions we have eftablifhed in the charafttrs 
of thofe two genera, ftiew it to belong to this. 
The root is compofed of a fmall head, and a 
great quantity ot fibres, which are brown, tough . 
and of an auftere tafte. 
The leaves are very beautifully divided ; they 
ftand on fliort, redifli footftalks, which are weak^. 
and 
