134 
E ur ope a n Ferns. 
“ the distilled water therof is very good against the passions of the heart, and to stay the 
hiccough, to help the falling of the pallat, and stay the bleeding of the gums, being 
gargled in the mouth,” Culpeper concludes by saying that his directions 
for the use of it “ wil be sufficient and enough for those that are studious 
in physick to whet their brains upon for one yeer or two.” The popu- 
larity of Culpeper’s “Herbal” still endures, and, indeed, there is no 
other book to take its place. In spite of the vast number of works 
upon British plants, describing minutely their botanical characteristics, 
and giving a fair idea of the wealth of tradition and association by 
which many of them are surrounded, there is no volume setting forth 
the — often very genuine — “vertues” and uses of our common plants. 
It is somewhat to be wondered at that no one has taken this in hand 
upon a thoroughly satisfactory basis ; as it is, the only claimants in 
this field to public favour and support being ridiculously below the 
mark — too much so, indeed, to notice here. Not long ago we were 
asking a gardener in a country house what book we should send him 
as a souvenir of our visit. He at once named “Culpeper’s Herbal” as 
the volume of his choice ; and we felt reluctantly that we had nothing 
better in the line to recommend him. The most objectionable feature 
of books of this kind is that they are almost invariably mere rechauffes 
of previous works : there is no 
attempt to bring them up to 
date, or to include in them the 
well-authenticated cases of cures 
worked by means of common 
English plants — such, for ex- 
ample, as those which we have 
alluded to in our Introduction 
(p. xxvi.). If a herbal could be 
produced which should include 
only such common plants as 
had been proved to possess 
remedial properties, it would 
be hailed as a boon by many 
a dweller in the country, and 
would undoubtedly contain 
much information that even the 
regular practitioner need not 
despise. 
Having quoted somewhat 
at length the useful qualities 
of the Hart’s-tongue, it may 
be well to devote a line or two 
to an account of the way in 
which it was formerly prepared. In the first place — we take for our guide William Langham, 
whose “Garden of Health” we have before had occasion to quote — the plant “must be gotten 
SCOLOPENDRIUM VULOARK. 
(a) NORMAL FROND, SHOWING VENATION AND SORI. ( b ) VARIETY MULTIFIDUM. 
(c) VARIETY RAMOSUM. (</) VARIETY POLYSCHIDES. 
