Medical Properties and Uses. — The dried leaves of this plant generally form the basis of British 
herb tobacco, and amongst the ancients it was famed for its pectoral and vulnerary properties. Dioscorides, 
Pliny, and Galen, recommend it to be smoked through a funnel or reed, and in a work, “ De Internis Affec- 
tionibus,” Ed. Fees. p. 532. 1. 34, attributed to Hippocrates, the root, taken in honey, is recommended 
for ulcerations of the lungs. Dr. Cullen, on the authority of Fuller, employed its expressed juice in scro- 
phulous cases, administering several ounces a day ; and in some instances he thought that it favoured the 
healing of scrophulous sores : subsequent experience, however, has not confirmed its power over the 
lymphatic system. During the last century, both the leaves and the flowers were recommended for their 
demulcent and expectorant virtues ; and old Gerard, in his ee Herball, or General historie of Plants,” says, 
“ the fume of the dried leaues taken through a funnel, burned upon coles, effectually helpeth those that are 
troubled with the shortnesse of breath, and fetch their wind thicke and often, and breaketh without peril 
the impostumes of the breast. Being taken in the manner as they take tobaco, it mightily preuaileth 
against the diseases aforesaid.” But although Colt’s-foot still retains a place in the London Pharmacopoeia, 
it is seldom used ; and independently of its mucilaginous qualities, it may be considered an unnecessary and 
useless article of the materia medica. 
A nostrum (says Professor Burnett), which is well known under the name of “ Essence of Colt’s-foot,” 
consists of equal parts of the Balsam of Tolu, and the Compound Tincture of Benzoin, to which is added double 
the quantity of rectified spirits of wine. This composition, which contains no Colt’s-foot, is certainly one of 
the most baneful medicines that could have been imposed upon the public in pectoral cases. The injurious 
tendency of warm resinous substances in pulmonary consumption has been pointed out, in a Dissertation by 
the late Dr. Fothergill. In a slight cold, the foundation of a suppuration of the lungs is laid by their use, 
from their increasing the inflammatory disposition, and exciting general fever ; and hence it is not improbable, 
as a popular writer justly remarks, that more fatal cases arise in pulmonary complaints from the officious 
interference of domestic practice, or the nostrum of the patent warehouse, than from the really incurable 
nature of such maladies. Consumptive patients who take such an exhilarating, but pernicious cordial, may 
be compared to a flower on the bank of a river — it blossoms luxuriantly for a season, but the moisture that 
feeds its roots, undermines its foundation. 
Those who wish to exhibit Colt’s-foot, on account of its demulcent properties, generally boil a handful 
of the leaves in two pints of water, to one pint ; and the decoction, after being strained, is sweetened with 
honey or coarse sugar. The dose is a teacupful. 
A kind of tinder, or touchwood, is, in some countries, made of the roots, impregnated with nitre. The 
leaves have been used as stuffing for pillows and cushions. 
It may not be out of place here to notice that singular property of seeds by which they are preserved 
in the ground for ages. It appears from certain circumstances, that when they are buried below that parti- 
cular depth at which they feel the influence of the atmosphere and consequently vegetate, they are in a state 
of preservation which may and does often continue for centuries — perhaps, for aught we know to the con- 
trary, to the end of the world, if undisturbed; certainly, however, to an amazing extent of time. By this 
beautiful law of the all-wise Creator, the vegetable tribes are never likely to be lost. However cultivation 
or carelessness may tend to extirpate certain species, their seeds lie in myriads in the treasury of the earth, 
and some event such as we sometimes witness, the lowering of a hill, the cutting of a single turf, exposes 
them to the action of the air, and forth they spring. Thus it is that farmers are frequently surprised on 
ploughing up a field that has lain in lea beyond the memory of man, to see a plentiful crop of various and 
unusual plants spring up. So I have observed in Sherwood Forest, that where turf is pared, henbane is 
almost sure to exhibit itself, though none has been seen in the neighbourhood for years. Many instances 
of this kind have no doubt attracted the attention of all curious lovers of Nature. 
