Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure Part 48

The term Sloe, or Sla, means not the fruit but the hard trunk, being connected with a verb signifying to slay, or strike, probably because the wood of this tree was used as a flail, and nowadays makes a bludgeon.

In the Autumn every branch becomes cl.u.s.tered with the oval blue-black fruit presently covered with a fine purple bloom; and until mellowed by the early frosts, this fruit is very harsh and sour.

The leaves, when they unfold late in the spring, are small and narrow. If dried, they make a very fair subst.i.tute for tea, and when high duties were placed on imported tea, it was usual to find the sloe trees stripped of their marketable foliage.

Furthermore, the dark ruby juice of Sloes enters largely into the manufacture of British port wine, to which it communicates a beautiful deep red colour, and a pleasant sub-acid roughness. Letters marked upon linen fabric with this juice, when used fresh, will not wash out.

If obtained by expression from the unripe fruit, it is very useful as an astringent medicine, and is a popular remedy for stopping a flow of blood from the nose. It may be gently boiled to a thick consistence, and will then keep throughout the year without losing its virtues. Winter-picks is a provincial name for the Sloe fruit, [519] and winter-pick wine takes the place of port in the rustic cellar. The French call them Prunelles.

Sloe-blossoms make a safe, harmless, laxative medicine. To use these, "Boil them up, and drink a cup of the tea daily for three or four days; it will act gently, painlessly, but thoroughly." The syrup is especially useful for children.

Country people bury the Sloes in jars to preserve them for winter use; and the bush which bears this fruit is sometimes called, provincially, Scroggs.

Sloes may be gathered when ripe on a dry day, picked clean, and put into jars or bottles, without any boiling or other process, and then covered with loaf sugar; a tablespoonful of brandy should presently be added, and the jar sealed. By Christmas, the syrup formed from the juice, the sugar, and the spirit, will have covered and saturated the fruit, and then a couple of tablespoonfuls will not only make an agreeable dessert liqueur, but will act as an astringent cordial of a very pleasant sort.

In Somersetshire the Sloe is named Snag (as corrupted from "Slag,"

i.e., Sloe). The juice is viscid, and when thickened to dryness, is the German Gum Acacia.

Those provers who have taken experimentally a tincture made from the wood and bark and leaves of the Blackthorn, all had to complain of sharp pains in the right eyeball and accordingly the diluted tincture is found, when administered in small quant.i.ties, to give signal relief for ciliary neuralgia, arising from a functional disorder of the structures within the eyeball. Dr. Hughes says: "It not only relieves such pains, but also checks the inflammation, and clears the vision." The medicinal tincture is made (H.) with proof spirit of wine from the flower buds collected in early spring [520] before they expand. The Sloe has been employed as a styptic ever since the time of Dioscorides. "From the effects," says Withering, "which I have repeatedly observed to follow a wound from the thorns, I find reason for believing that there is something poisonous in their nature, particularly in the autumn."

Next to the Sloe in order of development comes the Bullace (_Prunus insit.i.tia_), a shrub with fewer thorns, and bearing its flowers after the leaves have begun to unfold.

The fruit is five times as big as the Sloe, but likewise of a delicate bluish colour. It is named from the Latin plural bullas, meaning the round bosses which the Romans put on their bridles. Lydgate (1440) used the phrase, "As bright as Bullaces," in one of his poems. In Lincolnshire the blossom is known as "Bully bloom," and the fruit are "Bullies." After harvest the women and children go out gathering them for Bullace-wine. Boys in France call Slot's "_Sibarelles_," because it is impossible to whistle immediately after eating them. Some writers say the signification of "Sloe" is "that which sets the teeth on edge."

Finally comes the true Wild Plum (_Prunus domestica_), which is far less common than the two preceding sorts. Its flowers are large, and in small cl.u.s.ters, whilst the leaves unfold with the blossom. The fruit is a small brownish plum, intensely sharp and acrid to the taste, and the tree is th.o.r.n.y. Only in this latter respect does it differ from an inferior kind of garden plum of which the cultivation has been neglected.

The cultivated Plum has been developed from the Wild Plum, and has been made to exhibit some fifty varieties of form and character.

The fruit of Damascus was formerly much valued, being now known as Damascenes, (damsons), Damasin, or Damask prune.

[521] All the Wild Plums develop thorns; but the cultivated kinds have entirely cast them off. The Plum, as a fruit, was known to the Romans in Cato's time, but not the tree.

"Little Jack Horner," says the familiar nursery rhyme, "sat in a corner, eating a Christmas pie; he put in his thumb, and he pulled out a plum, and said 'What a good boy am I.'"

"Inquit, et unum extraheus prunum, Horner, quam fueris n.o.bile pueris Exemplar imitabile"!

When ripe, cultivated Plums are cooling and slightly laxative, especially the French fruit, which is dried and bottled for dessert.

They are useful for costive habits, and may be made into an electuary; but, when unripe, Plums provoke choleraic diarrhoea. The garden fruit contains less sugar than cherries, but a large amount of gelatinising pectose. Dr. Johnson was specially fond of veal pie with plums and sugar. He taunted Boswell about the need of gardeners to produce in Scotland what grows wild in England. "Pray, Sir," said he, "are you ever able to bring the Sloe to perfection there?" On Change a hundred thousand pounds are whimsically known as "a plum," and a million of money is "a marigold." Lately a Chicago physician whilst officiating at a Reformatory found that the boys behaved themselves much better when taking prunes in their diet than at any other time. These act, he supposes, on certain organs which are the seats, and centres of the pa.s.sions.

From France comes the Greengage, named in that country (out of compliment to the Queen of Francis the First) _La Reine Claude_. It was brought to England from [522] the Monastery of La Grande Chartreuse, about the middle of the eighteenth century, by the Rev.

John Gage, brother to the owner of Hengrave Hall, near Coldham, Suffolk; and taking his name this fruit soon became diffused throughout England.

French Prunes are conveyed to England in their dried state from Ma.r.s.eilles. With their pulp, figs, tamarinds, and senna, the officinal "lenitive electuary" is made; and apothecaries prepare a medicinal tincture from the fresh flower-buds of the Blackthorn.

Culpeper says: "All Plumbs are under Venus, and are like women-- some better, some worse."

In Suss.e.x and some other counties, a superst.i.tious fear attaches itself to the Blackthorn in bloom, because of the apparent union of life and death when the tree is clothed in early Spring with white flowers, but is dest.i.tute of leaves; so that to carry, or wear a piece of Blackthorn in blossom, is thought to signify bringing a death token.

SOAPWORT.

The Soapwort (_Saponaria officinalis_) grows commonly in England near villages, on roadsides, and by the margins of woods, in moist situations. It belongs to the _Caryophyllaceoe_, or Clove and Pink tribe of plants; and a double flowered variety of it is met with in gardens. This is Miss Mitford's "Spicer" in _Our Village_. It is sometimes named "Bouncing Bet," and "Fuller's herb."

The root has a sweetish bitter taste, but no odour. It contains resin and mucilage, in addition to saponin, which is its leading principle, and by virtue of which decoctions of the root produce a soapy froth.

Saponin is likewise found in the nuts of the Horse-chestnut tree, and in the Scarlet Pimpernel.

[523] A similar soapy quality is also observed in the leaves, so much so that they have been used by mendicant monks as a subst.i.tute for soap in washing their clothes. This "saponin" has considerable medicinal efficacy, being especially useful for the cure of inveterate syphilis without giving mercury. Several writers of note aver that such cases have been cured by a decoction of the plant; though perhaps the conclusion has been arrived at through the resemblance between the roots of Soapwort and those of Sarsaparilla.

Gerard says: "Ludovicus Septalius, when treating of decoctions in use against the French poxes, mentions the singular effect of the Soapwort against that filthy disease"; but, he adds, "it is somewhat of an ungrateful taste, and therefore must be reserved for the poorer sort of patients." He employed it _soepe et soepius_.

The _Pharmacopoeia Chirurgica_ of 1794, teaches: "A decoction of this plant has been found useful for scrofulous, impetiginous, and syphilitic affections. Boil down half a pound of the bruised fresh herb in a gallon of distilled water to two quarts, and give from one to three pints in the twenty-four hours."

Formerly the herb was called Bruisewort, and was thought of service for contusions. It will remove stains, or grease almost as well as soap, but contains no starch.

Saponin, when smelt, excites long-continued sneezing; if injected or administered, it reduces the frequency and force of the heart's pulsations, paralyzing the cardiac nerves, and acting speedily on the vaso-motor centres, so as to arrest the movements of the heart, on which principle, when given in a diluted form, and in doses short of all toxic effects, it has proved of signal use in low typhoid inflammation of the lungs, where restorative stimulation of the heart is to be aimed at.

[524] Also, likewise for pa.s.sive suppression of the female monthly flow, it will act beneficially as a stimulant of the womb to incite its periodical function.

In a patient who took a poisonous quant.i.ty of Saponin at Saint Petersburg all the muscular contractile sensitiveness was completely abolished; whilst, nevertheless, all the bodily functions were normally performed. Per contra, this effect should be a curative guide in the use of Soapwort as a Simple.

Saponin is found again in the root and unripe seeds of the Corn c.o.c.kle, and in all parts of the Nottingham Catch-fly except the seeds; also in the wild Lychnis, and some others of the Pink tribe.

SOLOMON'S SEAL.

The Solomon's Seal (_Convallaria polygonatum_) is a handsome woodland plant by no means uncommon throughout England, particularly in Berkshire, Bucks, Rants, Kent, and Suffolk.

It grows to the height of about two feet, bearing along its curved drooping branches handsome bells of pure white, which hang down all along the lower side of the gracefully weeping flower stalks.

The oval leaves are ribbed, and grow alternately from the stem, for which reason the plant is called Ladder-to-heaven; or, "more probably," says Dr. Prior, "from a confusion of _Seal de notre Dame_ (our Lady's Seal), with _Ech.e.l.le de notre Dame_ (our Lady's Ladder)." The round depressions resembling seal marks, which are found on the root, or the characters which appear when it is cut transversely, gave rise to the notion that Solomon, "who knew the diversities of plants, and the virtues of roots," had set his seal upon this in testimony of its value to man as a medicinal root. The rhizome and [525] herb contain convallarin, asparagin, gum, sugar, starch, and pectin.

In Galen's time the distilled water was used by ladies as a cosmetic for removing pimples and freckles from the skin, "leaving the place fresh, fair, and lovely." During the reign of Elizabeth it had great medical celebrity, so that, as we learn from a contemporary writer, "The roots of Solomon's Seal, stamped whilst fresh and green, and applied, taketh away, in one night, or two at the most, any bruise, black or blue spots gotten by falls, or woman's wilfulness in stumbling upon their hasty husband's fists, or such like," and "that which might be trewly written of this herb as touching the knitting of bones, would seem to some well nigh incredible; yea, although they be but slenderly, and unhandsomely wrapped-up; but common experience teacheth that in the worlde there is not to be found another herbe comparable for the purpose aforesaid. It was given to the patients in ale to drink--as well unto themselves as to their cattle--and applied outwardly in the manner of a pultis."

The name Lady's Seal was conferred on this plant by old writers, as also St. Mary's Seal, _Sigillum sanctoe Marioe_.

The Arabs understand by Solomon's Seal the figure of a six-pointed star, formed by two equilateral triangles intersecting each other, as frequently mentioned in Oriental tales. Gerard maintains that the name, _Sigillum Solomunis_, was given to the root "partly because it bears marks something like the stamp of a seal, but still more because of the virtue the root hath in sealing or healing up green wounds, broken bones, and such like, being stamp't and laid thereon."

The bottle of bra.s.s told of in the _Arabian Nights_ as fished up was closed with a stopper of lead bearing the [526] "Seal of our Lord Suleyman." This was a wonderful talisman which was said to have come down from heaven with the great name of G.o.d engraved upon it, being composed of bra.s.s for the good genii, and iron for the evil jinn.

The names _Convallaria polygonatum_ signify "growth in a valley,"

and "many jointed." Other t.i.tles of the plant are Many Knees, Jacob's Ladder, Lily of the Mountain, White wort, and Seal wort.

The Turks eat the young shoots of this plant just as we eat Asparagus.

SORREL.

(_See_ "Dock," _page_ 157.)