| ancient Greeks had the fame, amongst that 
_hbiana Lo aoa 
ALL-HEAL. 
tain. Two of the species cultivated with us— 
aculeatum and fruticosum—are hothouse plants 
of little consequence; and the other two—quin- 
quefolium and trefoliwm—are well known, widely 
diffused, interesting, hardy perennials, natives 
of North America and of Chinese Tartary. The 
name Panav is faithfully translated by Ad/-heal, 
and claims for the genus the properties of the 
‘ universal elixir,’ or a remedy for every disease ; 
' and though utterly absurd in Britain, where none 
_ of the species are found to possess any noticeable 
medicinal virtue, it quite appropriately repre- 
| sents the opinion entertained of the species guen- 
quefolium by the Tartars and Chinese. “In Chi- 
nese Tartary, this species has been gathered as 
| an invaluable drug from time immemorial. The 
rocts, which are said to bear some resemblance 
| to the human form, are gathered and dried, and 
| enter into almost every medicine used by the 
Tartars and Chinese. Osbeck says that he never 
looked into the apothecaries’ shops but they were 
always selling ginseng, that both poor people and 
| those of the highest rank made use of it, and that 
_ they boil half an ounce in their tea or soup every 
| morning, as a remedy for consumption and other 
_ diseases. Jartoux relates that the most eminent 
| physicians of China have written volumes on the 
_ medicinal powers of this plant, asserting that it 
gives immediate relief in extreme fatigue either 
of body or mind, that it dissolves petuitous hum- 
ours, and renders respiration easy, strengthens 
| the stomach, promotes appetite, stops vomiting, 
| removes hysterical, hypochondriacal, and all ner- 
| vous affections, giving a vigorous tone of body 
| even in extreme old age.’—|Loudon’s Encyelo- 
| pedia of Planis.| The Canadian French also use 
_ the root of this plant as a cure for asthma and 
_ for stomach complaints. Jartoux, as quoted by 
| Miller, says that he tried the plant with good 
| effect upon himself, and that, in the year 1709, 
| the emperor of China employed ten thousand 
| Tartars to gather it in the deserts. Both the 
Panax quinguefolium and the Panax trifoliwm 
thrive well in the open ground of English gar- 
dens, in a light rich soil—The Druids gave the 
name of all-heal to the misletoe, Viscum album. 
ALL-HHAL (Ciown’s), or Inonwort,—botani- 
cally Sideritvs. A genus of plants of the labiate 
tribe. Most of the species known in Great Bri- 
| tain are natives of the south of Europe, and par- 
| ticularly of the districts on the sea-board of the 
Mediterranean; three or four species are culti- 
vated for rare economical purposes, and twelve 
or thirteen species as ornamental plants ; three, 
the Roman, the mountain, and the dark-flowered, 
are annuals,—seven, the perfoliate, the holly- 
leaved, the hyssop-leaved, the scollop-leaved, the 
spiny, the hairy, and the fetid, are hardy peren- 
nials,—seven are plants of the frame or the green- 
house,—and the remaining species, amounting to 
about twenty-five, have not been introduced to 
Great Britain. The species best known to the 
ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 121 
people, of being able to heal all wounds made by 
the sword; but they are not known by the 
moderns to possess any such virtue. 
ALLIUM. A very extensive genus of edible, 
acrid, strongly-scented plants of the Asphodel 
tribe. Some are of great antiquity as potherbs; 
and all have the odour of their types, onion and 
garlic. The number of species is upwards of 100 ; 
and the number of varieties of some of the spe- 
cles is considerable. The leek, Allium porrum, 
and the common onion, Alliwm cepa, are bien- 
nials; but all the other species are perennials. 
The Welsh onion, Allium fistulosum, is an ever- 
green herbaceous plant ; but all the other species 
are bulbous. Nearly all are natives of the north- 
ern hemisphere; and most are found wild in the 
meadows and groves of Europe, Northern Asia, 
and Northern Africa, only a small proportion oc- 
curring within the corresponding latitudes of 
North America. Many are handsome flowering 
plants; but the best known, particularly onions, 
leeks, garlic, chives, shallot, and rocambole, are 
cultivated in the kitchen-garden. See articles 
Onion, Leex, Gartic, CHives, SHALLOT, &c. 
ALLODIUM. Landed property held in abso- 
lute possession, without any relative tenure, or 
any obligation of rent, service, or fealty to a su- 
perior. In law, allodial is used in contradistinc- 
tion to feudal, in which sense all moveable pro- 
perty is allodial. eodum or fief was property 
held under distinct acknowledgment of inferior- 
ity and stringent obligations of service, and formed 
the basis of the relation between vassal and lord ; 
and allodium was the converse of feodwm, acknow- |: 
ledging no inferiority, and lying under no obli- 
gation. The lands of the Franks, who succeeded 
the Romans in the possession of Gaul, were called | 
allodial; they were subject to no impost, except | 
that of military duty, sanctioned by liability to 
fines; and they passed in equal partitions to all 
children, or, in default of children, toall relations , 
within certain limits of consanguinity. The al- 
lodial tenure prevailed in most of France from 
the end of the fifth to the end of the eighth cen- 
tury; it prevailed in other continental districts 
of the quondam Roman empire so long as Roman 
law continued to be in force; it prevailed in 
England till about the period of the Norman con- 
quest; and it prevailed in the Orkney and the 
Shetland islands to so late a period as to present 
there till the present day some of its monuments | 
The name allodium is sometimes, | 
and usages. 
though improperly, employed to designate an | 
estate which has been inherited from ancestors, | 
in order to distinguish it from an estate obtained | 
by gift or purchase. 
ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. The letting of small | 
plots of ground to cottagers, for cultivation dur- | 
ing leisure time with the spade, and as a means 
of increasing their families’ maintenance and bet- 
tering their condition. 
from less than a rood to several acres, but proba- 
bly do not average more than one-third of an | 
The plots vary in size | 
