SCROPIIULARIACE.E. l"o 
Tlie evening star much sooner would go down 
And all the fields in dewy nectar drown. 
You know Arnoldus (if you've read him o'er) 
Did sight by me to men stone-blind restore ; 
'Tis true, and my known virtue ought to be 
The more esteem'd for that strange prodigy." 
Modern science tells us that the whole herb is slightly astringent, and has a bitter 
flavour, but its medicinal properties are very insignificant, and its use as an eye-wash 
is only retained by the peasantry in some remote country districts. Its use in diseases 
of the eye probably originated in the doctrine of signs, the brilliant white of its flowers 
indicating its efficacy in improving the sight. Gerarde tells us that " Eyebright 
stamped and laid upon the eyes, or the juice thereof mixed with white wine and 
dropped into the eyes, or the distilled water, taketh away the darknesse and diinne^e 
of the eyes, and cleareth the sight." 
GJSNUS XL— B A R, T S I A. Linn. 
Calyx tubular or bellshaped, not inflated, 4-cleft. Corolla 
tubular and bilabiate ; the upper lip rather broad, erect, concave, 
entire or ernarginate, but without spreading lobes ; lower lip 
3-lobed, with the lobes entire, sub-erect or erect-spreading ; palate 
generally convex, without plaits or with 2 bosses. Stamens 4, 
didynamous, placed under the upper lip of the corolla, included or 
exserted ; anthers 2-celled, with the lobes all equally mucronate. 
Capsule globose- or oblong-ovoid, scarcely or only slightly com- 
pressed, pointed or (more rarely) obtuse or ernarginate, opening 
loculicidally by 2 valves. Seeds numerous, of various size. 
Annuals or perennials, only distinguishable from the species of 
Euphrasia by the upper lip of the corolla being entire or nearly so ; 
indeed there can be very little doubt that the genera Euphrasia 
and Bartsia ought to be united : E. minima (Schleid.) has a 
corolla scarcely differing from that of Bartsia. 
This genus of plants was named by Linnaeus after his friend Dr. John Bartsch, 
of Kbnigsberg, a very promising young naturalist, who perished whilst pursuing his 
studies at Surinam, whither he was sent by the illustrious Boerhaave. 
Sub-Genus I.— ODONTITES. Mailer, J?ers. 
Capsule ovate or oblong, compressed, obtuse. Seeds minute 
with longitudinal ridges. 
