THE USES OF FERNS. 
79 
dressing for wounds, especially ulcers. Vitruvius relates 
a curious circumstance regarding this fern which is 
quoted by Mr. Newman. “ In Crete,” he says, “ there 
is a river that flows between the cities of Gnosus and 
Cortyna; on the banks on the Cortyna side the scaly 
Spleenwort grows in great abundance, and the swine 
there are ascertained to have no spleen ; on the Gnosus 
side of the river, however, there is not a single plant of 
the scaly Spleenwort to be found, and there the pigs are 
endowed with spleen. Hence the name Spleenwort is 
supposed to be applied to the Asplenium family. This 
and other members of the group long maintained their 
character for acting on the spleen. 
The Ceterach was not the only species thus famed ; the 
Asplenium Adiantum-nigrum was considered equally cura- 
tive. Decoctions of one or other of these could hardlv fail 
to cure any complaint in which the spleen could have or 
be supposed to have any share ; indeed, from the faith 
with which herbalists speak of the virtues of these plants, 
it could only be through wilful and gross neglect of these 
beneficent gifts, that sickness could remain on earth. 
The common brake may vie with the male fern in its 
extensive adaptability to the service of man and animals. 
The root of it is recommended by some authors as a 
cure for rickets in children, and to lie upon a bed of it 
used to be prescribed for the same disease in older per- 
sons. In common with Filix-mas it possesses the qualities 
necessary for a vermifuge. The young shoots boiled as 
a vegetable for the table are fairly palatable ; cooked 
roughly and in great quantity, they make excellent food 
for pigs. The fronds cut when green and left to rot 
upon the land make capital manure ; stacked and hoarded, 
they make good litter for the foldyard. Duchesne states 
