178 
THE PRINCIPLES OP BOTANY. 
which is all as one, for ’osses and cows is allays hide-bound 
if they have worms.” They are aware of its dangerous quali¬ 
ties, as they describe it as a main strong,” and the favourite 
formula for its use is. “ Savage chopped up fine as much as 
will lay on a shilling, sulphur, brimstone (sic), and ninetre 
(sic), gid um vasting. Dree or four doses o’ this will bring 
away worms a fut long (if thaay be thur); but if they beant, 
’tis sartain to ’prove* thayre cwoats.” Now, we have quoted 
this verbatim et literatim, for the express purpose of show¬ 
ing the kind of “ doctoring” which prevails in the country, 
confessing with sorrow that things are so. 
Now, if we inquire how this is to be remedied, our simple 
answer will be by increased education; educate the pro¬ 
fessional man and the farmer, and the time will come when 
knowledge will descend to the labourer and men in charge of 
our stock. Knowledge always did descend from a higher 
stratum to a lower, and though there are those who tell us to 
educate the working man, and religion, science, and politics 
will all be improved; yet we feel quite sure that unless the 
education of our professed men of science and professional 
men is of the highest kind, that of those below will be 
but make-believe quackery. 
We have been unwillingly led into this digression from 
thinking over the uses by the rustic of savin with our domes¬ 
ticated animals; but such thoughts are only intensified 
when we consider the uses to which it is put with human 
beings. 
Dr. Pereira says that savin is sometimes employed for 
criminal purposes, and, therefore, sometimes becomes the 
subject of medico-legal inquiries, and he refers to Morhen- 
heim as mentioning the case of a woman, thirty years of age, 
wl o swallowed an infusion of savin to occasion abortion. 
Violent and incessant vomiting was induced. After some 
days she experienced excruciating pains, which were followed 
by abortion, dreadful haemorrhage from the uterus, and death. 
On examination the gall-bladder was found ruptured, the 
bile effused in the abdomen, and the intestines inflamed. 
The popular notion of its tendency to cause abortion leads, 
on many occasions, to the improper use of savin, and the 
above is not a solitary instance of the fatal consequences 
thereof (see f Materia Medica/ vol. ii, pp. 330-31). 
That savin is a powerful medicinal plant there can, then, 
be no doubt, and, therefore, we are led to hope that more 
care with regard to its active nature might lead to a salutary 
use of it, while it guarded against its abuse. 
* The Doric Dorset for improve. 
