ON PLANTS IN RELATION TO ANIMALS. 
93 
1. Chelidonium majus. 
The first of these is the well-known Celandine of the 
garden and about the homestead, and is one of those herbs 
known to most dwellers in the country, from the fact that 
the bright yellow juice which exudes from all parts of the 
plant when broken is employed as the favourite remedy for 
warts and other small excrescences. It is also used as an 
application to remove dimness of vision, which, latter effect 
was doubtless caused in much the same way as that derived 
from preparations of opium, which is usually the oculist’s 
remedy for opacity of the cornea, while the countryman’s 
cure is the juice of the Celandine. 
At one time it was a favourite medicine in jaundice. 
Dr. Johnston says of it: a The juice is very acrid and pun¬ 
gent, and acts as a purgative when given internally. It was 
highly commended by some of tbe old writers as a remedy 
in jaundice and other diseases of the liver ; but its use in those 
disorders was probably chiefly due to its yellow colour, which 
in the days of signature medicine was supposed to indicate 
its value in such complaints. In later times it has been 
employed as an expectorant, given in very small quantity in 
wine or water. The dry root and an infusion of the same 
part are recommended for a like purpose, but the virtues of 
the plant are probably exaggerated, and its administration 
in quantity rather dangerous. 
“ In old times it was a favourite application to warts, and 
to remove opaque spots from the cornea, and was likewise 
applied to various cutaneous eruptions. For this purpose 
the juice was collected and made up into small cakes with 
honey, or simply dried and moistened with honey and water 
when used. The active principle of the Celandine is soluble 
in both water and alcohol; it is not volatile, though the 
herb loses much of its acridity in drying. 
“ This must not be confounded with the lesser Celandine 
of the herbalists, which was pilewort —Ranunculus Jicaria — 
whose bright yellow many-leaved flowers ornament the hedge 
banks and moist places in the early spring, and which was 
applied by our forefathers as a topical remedy in haemor- 
rhoidal disease, but probably owed its reputation merely to 
the form of the tuberous root, as it has only the biting and 
pungent qualities of most Ranunculaceae.”* 
The doctrine of signatures which has been so often 
dwelt on in these notes is one of peculiar interest, and 
although plants were on this principle often employed in the 
most empirical manner, yet there is reason to conclude that 
* * Useful Plants of Great Britain,’ p. 17. 
LIII. 
7 
