PEPPER MINT, FOX-GLOVE. 169 
culiarly agreeable, and, on this account, it is employed 
for several culinary purposes, both in a green and 
dried state. 
The leaves are used in spring salads, are boiled with 
peas, and put into soup. In conjunction with vinegar 
and sugar they form a sauce for lamb ; and prepared 
with sugar, they are .made into a grateful conserve. 
Spear-mint is occasionally used in medicine, and the 
officinal preparations of it are the conserve, an essen- 
tial oil, a simple distilled water, a spirit, and a tincture, 
or extract. In drying, the leaves lose about three- 
fourths of their weight, but without suffering much 
either in taste or smell. 
180. PEPPER MINT (Mentha piperita) is a British 
plant, which grozvs in watery places, and is cultivated chiefly on 
account of an oil and distilled water which are prepared from it. 
This is the strongest and most aromatic of all the 
mints ; and, on this account, is more used in medicine 
than any other species. When distilled with water 
it yields a considerable quantity of essential oil, of pale 
greenish yellow colour. The well-known liquor called 
pepper mint water, prepared from this plant, is an ex- 
cellent stomachic: but is too often used in cases of 
impaired appetite, and for the relief of various ima- 
ginary complaints. 
ANGIOSPERMIA. 
181. The FOX-GLOVE (Digitalis purpu-rea) is a stately 
British plant, with long, erect up ikes of large, purple, and some- 
what bell-shaped flowers, marked internally loith dark spots in 
whitish rings, and containing four stamens, with large yellow 
anthers. 
The calyx, or flower-cup, has five pointed divisions. The ex- 
tremity of the blossom is divided into five segments ; and the 
seed-vessel is egg-shaped, and contains many seeds. The leaves 
are large, wrinkled, and somewhat downy beneath. 
The gravelly or sandy hedge-banks or hills of all the 
midland counties of England are adorned, in the later 
months of summer, with this, one of the most beautiful, 
most dangerous, and yet, if properly applied, one of 
VOL. II. I 
