Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure Part 56

The fruit of the Vine (_Vitis vinifera_) has already been treated of here under the heading "Grapes," as employed medicinally whether for the purgation of the bilious--being then taken crude, and scarcely ripe,--or for imparting fat and bodily warmth in wasting disease by eating the luscious and richly-saccharine berries.

It should be added that the fumes exhaled from the wine-presses whilst the juice is fermenting, prove highly beneficial as a restorative for weakly and delicate young persons (an example which might be followed perhaps at our home breweries).

Consumptive patients are sent with this view to the Gironde, where the vapour from the wine vats is more stimulating and curative than in Burgundy. Young girls who suffer from atrophy are first made to stand for some hours daily in the sheds when the wine pressing is going forward. After a while, as they become less weak, they are directed to jump into the wine press, where, with the vintagers and labourers they skip about and inhale the fumes of the fermenting juice, until they sometimes become intoxicated, and even senseless.

This effect pa.s.ses off after one or two trials, and the girls return to their labour with renewed strength and heightened colour, hopeful, joyous, and robust. The [589] vats of the famous Chateau d'yquem are the most celebrated of all for the wondrous cures they have effected even in cases considered past human aid.

VIOLET.

The Wild violet or Pansy (_Viola tricolor_) is found commonly throughout Great Britain on banks and in hilly pastures, from whence it has come to be cultivated in our gardens.

_Viola_, a corruption of "Ion," is a name extended by old writers to several other different plants. But the true indigenous representative of the Violet tribe is our Wild Pansy, or Paunce, or Pance, or Heart's ease; called also "John of my Pink," "Gentleman John," "Meet her i'

th' entry; kiss her i' th' b.u.t.tery" (the longest plant name in the English language), and "Love in idleness."

"A little Western flower, Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound, And maidens call it--'Love in idleness.'"

From its coquettishly half hiding its face, as well as from some fancied picture in the throat of the corolla it has received various other amatory designations, such as "cuddle me to you," "t.i.ttle my fancy," "jump up and kiss me," and "garden gate": also it is called "Flamy," because its colours are seen in the flame of burning wood, and Flame Flower.

The term "heart's ease" has signified a cordial which is comforting to the heart. But the fact is that Pansies, "pretty little Puritans,"

produce anything but heart's ease if eaten, and their roots provoke sickness so speedily that these are sometimes employed as an emetic.

Dr. Johnson derived the word Pansy from Panacea, [590] as curing all diseases; but this was a mistake, The true derivation is from the French _pensee_, "thoughts," as Shakespeare knew, when making Ophelia say: "There is pansies--that's for thoughts."

From its three colours it has been called the herb Trinity. A medicinal tincture is made (H.) from the _Viola tricolor_ with spirit of wine, using the entire plant. Hahnemann found that the Pansy violet, when taken by provers, served to induce cutaneous eruptions, or to aggravate them, and he reasoned out the curative action of the plant in small diluted doses for the cure of these symptoms, when occurring as disease.

"For milk crust and scald head," says Dr. Hughes (Brighton)--the plague of children, "I have rarely needed any other medicine than this _Viola tricolor_; and I have more than once given it in recent impetigo (pustular eczema) for adults, with very satisfactory effects." For the first of these maladies the tincture should be given in doses of from three to six drops, to a child of from two to six or eight years, three times a day in water.

Again, "for curing scalled (from _scall_, a sh.e.l.l) head in children, a small handful of the fresh plant, or half a drachm of the dried herb, boiled for two hours in milk, is to be taken each night and morning; also a bread poultice made with this decoction should be applied to the affected part.

"During the first eight days the eruption increases, and the urine, when the medicine succeeds, has a nauseous odour like that of the cat, which presently pa.s.ses off; then, as the use of the plant is continued, the scabs disappear, and the skin recovers its natural clean condition."

The root of the _Viola tricolor_ has similar properties [591] to that of Ipecacuanha, and is often used beneficially as a subst.i.tute by country doctors. An infusion thereof is admirable for the dysentery of young children. It loves a mixture of chalk in the soil where it grows.

The Pansy contains an active chemical principle, "violin," resin, mucilage, sugar, and the other ordinary const.i.tuents of plants. When bruised the plant, and especially its root, smells like peach kernels, or prussic acid. It acts as a slight laxative: and "the distilled water of the flowers" says Gerard--"cureth the French disease."

The Germans style the Pansy _Stief-mutter_, because figuratively the mother-in-law appears in the flower predominant in purple velvet, and her own two daughters gay in purple and yellow, whilst the two poor little Cinderellas, more soberly and scantily attired, are squeezed in between. Again, another fable says, with respect to the five petals and the five sepals of the Pansy, two of which petals are plain in colour, whilst each has a single sepal, the three other petals being gay of hue, one of these (the largest of all) having two sepals; that the Pansy represents a family of husband, wife, and four daughters, two of the latter being step-children of the wife.

The plain petals are the step-children, with only one chair; the two small gay petals are the daughters, with a chair each; and the large gay petal is the wife, with two chairs. To find the father, one must strip away the petals until the stamens and pistils are bare. These then bear a fanciful resemblance to an old man with a flannel wrapper about his neck, having his shoulders upraised, and his feet in a bath tub. The French also call the Pansy "The Step-mother."

The chemical principle, "violin," contained in the [592] flowering Wild Pansy resembles emetin in action. If the dried plant is given medicinally, from ten to sixty grains may be taken as a dose, in infusion.

The Sweet Violet (_Viola odorata_) is well known for its delicious fragrance of perfume when growing in our woods, pastures, and hedge banks. The odour of its petals is lost in drying, but a pleasant syrup is made from the flowers which is a suitable laxative for children.

A conserve, called "violet sugar," prepared from the flowers, has proved of excellent use in consumption. This conserve was made in the time of Charles the Second, being named "Violet plate." Also, the Sweet Violet is thought to possess admirable virtues as a cosmetic. Lightfoot gives a translation from a Highland recipe in Gaelic, for its use in this capacity, rendered thus: "Anoint thy face with goat's milk in which violets have been infused, and there is not a young prince upon earth who will not be charmed with thy beauty."

There is a legend that Mahomet once compared the excellence of Violet perfume above all other sweet odours to himself above all the rest of creation: it refreshes in summer by its coolness, and revives in winter by its warmth.

The Syrup of Sweet Violets should be made as follows: To one pound of sweet violet flowers freshly picked, add two-and-a-half pints of boiling water: infuse these for twenty-four hours in a glazed china vessel, then pour off the liquid, and strain it gently through muslin; afterwards add double its weight of the finest loaf sugar, and make it into a syrup, but without letting it boil.

Violets are cultivated largely at Stratford-on-Avon for the purpose of making the syrup, which when mixed with almond oil, is a capital laxative for children, [593] and will help to soothe irritative coughs, or to relieve a sore throat.

The flowers have been commended for the cure of epilepsy and nervous disorders; they are laxative when eaten in a salad. The seeds are diuretic, and will correct gravel. The Sweet Violet contains the chemical principle "violin" in all its parts. A medicinal tincture (H.) is made from the entire fresh plant with proof spirit. It acts usefully for a spasmodic cough, with hard breathing; also for rheumatism of the wrists especially the right one.

This Violet is highly esteemed likewise in Syria, chiefly because of its being chosen for making the violet sugar used in sherbet. That which is drunk by the Grand Signior himself is compounded of sweet violets, and sugar.

From the flower may be pleasantly contrived a pretty miniature bird, by carefully removing the calyx and corolla, leaving only the stamens and pistil attached to the receptacle; then the stigma forms the bead and neck, whilst the anthers make a golden breast, and their tongues appear like a pair of green wings.

Mademoiselle Clarion, a noted French actress, had a nosegay of violets sent her every morning of the season for thirty years; and to enhance the value of the gift, she stripped off the petals every evening, being pa.s.sionately devoted to the flower, and took them in an infusion as tea.

Pliny recommended a garland of sweet violets as a cure for headache. The Romans made wine of the flowers; and Napoleon the Great claimed the Violet as _par excellence_ his own, for which reason he was often styled, _Le pere du violette_. This floral a.s.sociation took date from the time of his exile to Elba. The Emperor's return was alluded to among his adherents by a pa.s.s [594] word, "_Aimez vous la Violette? Eh, bien! reparaitra au printemps_."

The scentless Dog Violet (_Viola canina_) is likewise mildly laxative, and possesses the virtues of the _Viola odorata_ in a lesser degree.

The Water Violet is "feather foil" (_Hottonia pal.u.s.tris_).

VIPER'S BUGLOSS.

The Simpler's pa.s.sing consideration should be given to this tall handsome English herb which grows frequently in gravel pits, and on walls. It belongs to the Borage tribe (see page 60), and, in common with the Lungwort (_Pulmonaria_), the Comfrey, and the ordinary Bugloss, abounds in a soft mucilaginous saline juice. This is demulcent to the chest, or to the urinary pa.s.sages, being also slightly laxative. Bees favour the said plants, which are rich in honey. Each herb goes by the rustic name of "Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," because bearing spires of tricoloured flowers, blue, purple, and red. The Viper's Bugloss is called botanically _Echium_, having been formerly considered antidotal to the bite of (_Echis_) a viper: and its seed was thought to resemble the reptile's head: wherefore such a curative virtue became attributed to it after the doctrine of signatures. "_In Echio, herba contra viperarum morsus celeberrima, natura s.e.m.e.n viperinis capitibus simile procreavit_." Similarly the Lungwort (or Jerusalem Cowslip), because of its spotted leaves, was held to be a remedy for diseased lungs. This rarely grows wild, but it is of frequent cultivation in cottage gardens, bearing also the rustic name, "Soldiers and Sailors," "To-day and to-morrow," and "Virgin Mary." From either of these herbs a fomentation of the flowers, or a decoction of the whole bruised plant, may be employed with benefit locally to sore or raw surfaces: [595] whilst an infusion made with three drams of the dried herb to a pint of boiling water will be good in feverish pulmonary catarrh. By our ancestors viper broth was thought to be highly invigorating: and vipers cooked like eels were given to patients suffering from ulcers. The Sardinians still take them in soup. Marvellous powers were supposed to be acquired by the Druids through their possession of a viper's egg, laid in the air, and caught before reaching the earth. All herbs of the Borage order are indifferently "of force and virtue to drive away sorrow and pensiveness of the mind: also to comfort and strengthen the heart." With respect to the Comfrey (see page 120), quite recently the President of the Irish College of Surgeons has reported the gradual disappearance of a growth ("malignant, sarcomatous, twice recurrent, and of a bad type"), since steadily applying poultices of this root to the tumour. "I know nothing," says Professor Thomson, "of the effects of Comfrey root: but the fact that this growth has simply disappeared is one of the greatest surprises and puzzles I have met with."

WALLFLOWER.

The Wallflower, or Handfiower (_Cheiranthus cheiri_), or Wall-gilliflower, has been cultivated in this country almost from time immemorial, for its fragrance and bright colouring. It is found wild in France, Switzerland, and Spain, as the Keiri or Wallstock.

Formerly this flower was carried in the hand at cla.s.sic festivals.

Herrick, in 1647, gave a more romantic origin to the name Wallflower:--

"Why this flower is now called so List, sweet maids, and you shall know: Understand this wilding was Once a bright and bonny lad [596] Who a sprightly springal loved, And to have it fully proved Up she got upon a wall Tempting to slide down withal: But the silken twist untied, So she fell: and, bruised, she died.

Love, in pity of the deed, And such luckless eager speed, Turned her to this plant we call Now the 'Floweret of the Wall.'"

It is the only British species belonging to the Cruciferous order of plants, and flourishes best on the walls of old buildings, flowering nearly all the summer, though scantily supplied with moisture. We may presume it was one of the earliest cultivated flowers in English gardens, as it is discovered on the most ancient houses.

Turner, an early writer on Plants, calls it Wallgelouer, or "Hartisease;" and by Spencer it was termed Cherisaunce, as meaning a cordial to the heart, this being really the herb to which the name Heart's-ease was originally given. By rustics it is known also as the "Beeflower."

But the common Stock likewise bore the appellation, "Gilliflower": and the probability is, there was in old days, as Cotgrave suggests, a popular medicine or food "for the pa.s.sions of the heart," called "gariofile," from the cloves which it contained, the Latin for a clove being _caryophyllum_. Hence it came about that the Wallflower, the Pansy, and the Stock, by virtue of their cordial qualities, were alike called Gilliflowers, or Heart's-ease.

There are two varieties of the cultivated Wallflower, the Yellow and the Red; those of a deep colour growing on old rockeries and similar places, are often termed [597] b.l.o.o.d.y Warriors, and Bleeding Heart.

The double Wallflower has been produced for more than two centuries. If the flowers are steeped in oil for some weeks, they contribute thereto a stimulating warming property useful for friction to limbs which are rheumatic, or neuralgic. Gerard suggests that the "oyle of Wallflowers is good for use to annoint a paralyticke." An infusion of the flowers, made with boiling water, will relieve the headache of debility, and is cordial in nervous disorders, by taking a small wine-gla.s.sful immediately, and repeating it every half-hour whilst required. The aromatic volatile principles of the flowers are _caryophyllin_ and _eugenol_. "This Wallflower," adds Gerard, "and the Stock Gilliflower are used by certain empiricks and quack salvers about love and l.u.s.t,--matters which for modesty I omit."

WALNUT.

The Walnut tree is known of aspect to most persons throughout Great Britain as of stately handsome culture, having many spreading branches covered with a silvery grey bark, which is smooth when young, though thick and cracked when old.