Not in the human family alone does eccentricity 
win credit for unusual and transcendent talents* 
Innumerable trees and plants have for years imposed 
on a credulous and trusting world by means of 
peculiarities in dress and habits* Prescriptions of the 
present day are not like the medicine our mothers 
used to make* And when a nauseating remembrance 
of the horrible decoctions brings back the sinking, 
vacant sensations of early childhood, the thought that 
the ill-flavoured herbs were imposing on confiding 
motherhood by their eccentricities provokes a feeling 
of indignation* No wonder the present generation 
delights in exposing the pretences of alleged medicinal 
herbs whose reputations were sustained by unusual 
habits alone* The memory of catnip tea, wormwood, 
elecampane, senna, and other nauseating tastes on 
the sensitive palate of early childhood can never be 
effaced* And it is irritating to reflect that the faith 
of our good grandmothers had no foundation except 
161 l 
