Of all the bitter appetising herbs which grow in our fields and
hedgerows, and which serve as excellent simple tonics, the
Centaury, particularly its white flowered variety, belonging to the
Gentian order of [97] plants, is the most efficacious. It shares in an
abundant measure the restorative antiseptic virtues of the Field
Gentian and the Buckbean. There are four wild varieties of the
Centaury, square stemmed, and each bearing flat tufts of flowers
which are more or less rose coloured. The ancients named this
bitter plant the Gall of the Earth, and it is now known as Christ's
Ladder, or Felwort.
Though growing commonly in dry pastures, in woods, and on
chalky cliffs, yet the Centaury cannot be reared in a garden. Of old
its tribe was called "Chironia," after Chiron, the Greek Centaur,
well skilled in herbal physic; and most probably the name of our
English plant was thus originated. But the Germans call the Centaury
_Tausendgulden kraut_--"the herb of a thousand florins,"--either
because of its medicinal value, or as a corruption of _Centum
aureum_, "a hundred golden sovereigns." Centaury has become
popularly reduced in Worcestershire to Centre of the Sun.
Its generic adjective "erythroea" signifies red. The flowers
open only in fine weather, and not after twelve o'clock (noon) in
the day. Chemically the herb contains erythrocentaurin--a bitter
principle of compound character,--together with the usual herbal
constituents, but with scarcely any tannin. The tops of the
Centaury, especially of that _flore albo_--with the light coloured
petals--are given in infusion, or in powder, or when made into an
extract. For languid digestion, with heartburn after food, and a
want of appetite, the infusion prepared with cold water, an ounce
of the herb to a pint is best; but for muscular rheumatism the
infusion should be made with boiling water. A wineglass of either
will be the proper dose, two or three times a day.
[98] CHERRY.
The wild Cherry (_Cerasus_), which occurs of two distinct kinds,
has by budding and grafting begotten most of our finest garden
fruits of its genus. The name _Cerasus _was derived from
Kerasous, a city of Cappadocia, where the fruit was plentiful.
According to Pliny, Cherries were first brought to Rome by
Lucullus after his great victory over Mithridates, 89 B.C. The
cultivated Cherry disappeared in this country during the Saxon
period, and was not re-introduced until the reign of Henry VIII.
The _Cerasus sylvestris _is a wild Cherry tree rising to the height
of thirty or forty feet, and producing innumerable small globose
fruits; whilst the _Cerasus vulgaris_, another wild Cherry, is a
mere shrub, called _Cerevisier_ in France, of which the fruit is
sour and bitter. Cherry stones have been found in the primitive
lake dwellings of Western Switzerland. There is a tradition that
Christ gave a Cherry to St. Peter, admonishing him not to despise
little things. In the time of Charles the First, Herrick, the
clergyman poet, wrote a simple song, to which our well-known
pretty "Cherry Ripe" has been adapted:--
"Cherry ripe! ripe! I cry,
Full and fair ones I come, and buy!
If so be you ask me where
They do grow: I answer there
Where my Julia's lips do smile,
There's the land: a cherry isle."
"Cherries on the ryse" (or, on twigs) was well known as a London
street cry in the fifteenth century; but these were probably the
fruit of the wild Cherry, or Gean tree. In France soup made from
Cherries, and taken with bread, is the common sustenance of the
wood cutters and charcoal burners of the forest during the [99]
winter. The French distil from Cherries a liqueur named _Eau de
Cerises_, or, in German, _Kirschwasser_; whilst the Italians
prepare from a Cherry called _Marusca_ the liqueur noted as
_Marasquin_. Cherries termed as Mazzards are grown in Devon
and Cornwall, A gum exudes from the bark of the Cherry tree
which is equal in value to gum arabic. A caravan going from
Ethiopia to Egypt, says Husselquist, and a garrison of more than
two hundred men during a siege which lasted two months, were
kept alive with no other food than this gum, "which they sucked
often and slowly." It is known chemically as "cerasin," and differs
from gum acacia in being less soluble.
The leaves of the tree and the kernels of the fruit contain a basis
of prussic acid.
The American wild Cherry (_Prunus virginiana_) yields from its
bark a larger quantity of the prussic acid principle, which is
sedative to the nervous centres, and also some considerable tannin.
As an infusion, or syrup, or vegetable extract, it will allay nervous
palpitation of the heart, and will quiet the irritative hectic cough of
consumption, whilst tending to ameliorate the impaired digestion.
Its preparations can be readily had from our leading druggists, and
are found to be highly useful. A teaspoonful of the syrup, with one
or two tablespoonfuls of cold water, is a dose for an adult every
three or four hours. The oozing of the gum-tears from the trunk
and boughs is due to the operation of a minute parasitic fungus.
Helena, in the _Midsummer Night's Dream_, paints a charming
picture of the close affection between Hermia and herself--
"So we grew together
Like to a double Cherry-seeming parted,
But yet a union in partition:
Two lovely berries moulded on one stem."
CHERVIL, or BEAKED PARSLEY.
"There is found," writes Parkinson, "during June and July, in almost
every English hedge, a certain plant called _Choerophyllum_,
in show very like unto Hemlockes, of a good and pleasant
smell and taste, which have caused us to term it 'Sweet Chervill.'"
And in modern times this plant has taken rank as a pot herb
in our gardens, though its virtues and uses are not sufficiently
known. "The root is great, thick and long, exceedingly sweet
in smell, and tasting like unto anise seeds. This root is much
used among the Dutch people in a kind of loblolly or hotchpot,
which they do eat, calling it _warmus_. The seeds taken as a salad
whilst they are yet green, exceed all other salads by many degrees
in pleasantness of taste, sweetness of smell, and wholesomeness
for the cold and feeble stomach." In common with other camphoraceous
and strongly aromatic herbs, by reason of its volatile oil
and its terebinthine properties, the Scandix, or Sweet Chervil,
was entitled to make one of the choice spices used for composing
the holy oil with which the sacred vessels of the Tabernacle
were anointed by Moses. It belongs to the particular group
of umbelliferous plants which is endowed with balsamic gums,
and with carminative essences appealing powerfully to the
sense of smell.
The herb Chervil was in the mind of Roman Catullus when discoursing
sweet verses of old to his friend Fabullus:--
"Nam unguentum dabo quod meoe puelloe
Donarunt veneres, cupidinesque.
Quod tu quum olfacies deo rogabis
Totum ut te faciat. Fabulle! nasum."
"I will give you a perfume my damsels gave me,
Sweet daughters of Venus, sad hoydens are ye!
Which the moment you smell will incite you to pray
My Fabullus! to live as 'all nose' from that day."
Evelyn taught (1565) that "the tender tops of Cherville should
never be wanting in our sallets, being exceeding wholesome, and
chearing the spirits; also that the roots boiled and cold are to be
much commended for aged persons." But in 1745 several Dutch
soldiers were poisoned by eating the rough wild Chervil, from
which the cultivated sweet variety is to be distinguished by its
having its stems swollen beneath the joints--much as our
blue-blooded patricians are signalised by gouty knuckles and
bunioned feet.
The botanical name of the Sweet Chervil (_Choerophyllum_)
signifies a plant which rejoices the heart--_Kairei-phyllum_. "The
roots," said an old writer, "are very good for old people that are
dull and without courage; they gladden and comfort the spirits,
and do increase their lusty strength." The juice is slightly aperient,
and abundantly lacteal when mixed with goat's milk, or in gruel.
Physicians formerly held this herb in high esteem, as capable of
curing most chronic disorders connected with the urinary
passages, and gravel. Some have even asserted that if these
distempers will not yield to a constant use of Chervil, they win be
scarcely curable by any other medicine. The Wild Chervil will
"help to dissolve any tumours or swellings in all parts of the body
speedily, if applied to the place, as also to take away the spots and
marks in the flesh and skin, of congealed blood by blows or
bruises." The feathery leaves of Chervil, which are of a bright
emerald hue in the spring, become of a rich purple in the
autumn, just as the objectionably carroty locks of Tittlebat
Titmouse, in _Ten Thousand a Year_, became vividly green under
"Cyanochaitanthropopoin," and were afterwards strangely empurpled
by "Tetragmenon abracadabra," at nine and sixpence the bottle.
[102] CHESTNUTS (Horse, and Sweet).
Ever since 1633 the Horse Chestnut tree has grown and flourished
in England, having been brought at first from the mountains of
Northern Asia. For the most part it is rather known and admired
for its wealth of shade, its large handsome floral spikes of creamy,
pink-tinted blossom, and its white, soft wood, than supposed to
exercise useful medicinal properties. But none the less is this tree
remarkable for the curative virtues contained in its large nuts of
mahogany polish, its broad palmate leaves, and its smooth silvery
bark. These virtues have been discovered and made public
especially by physicians and chemists of the homoeopathic school.
From the large digitated leaves an extract is made which has
proved of service in whooping-cough, and of which from one-third
to half a teaspoonful may be given for a dose. On the Continent
the bark is held in estimation for cutting short attacks of
intermittent fever and ague by acting in the same way as Peruvian
bark, though it is much more astringent. But the nuts are chiefly to
be regarded as the medicinal belongings of the Horse Chestnut
tree; and their bodily sphere of action is the rectum, or lower
bowel, in cases of piles, and of obstinate constipation. Their use is
particularly indicated when the bottom of the back gives out on
walking, with aching and a sense of weariness in that region.
Likewise, signal relief is found to be wrought by the same remedy
when the throat is duskily red and dry, in conjunction with
costiveness, and piles. A tincture is made (H.) from the ripe nuts
with spirit of wine, for the purposes described above, or the nuts
themselves are finely powdered and given in that form. These nuts
are starchy, and contain so much potash, that they may be
used when boiled for washing purposes. [103] In France and
Switzerland they are employed for cleansing wool and bleaching
linen, on account of their "saponin." Botanically, the Horse
Chestnut is named _AEsculus hippocastanea_--the first word
coming from _esca_, food; and the second from _hippos_, a horse;
and _Castana_, the city, so called. The epithet "horse" does not
imply any remedial use in diseases of that animal, but rather the
size and coarseness of this species as compared with the Sweet
Spanish Chestnut. In the same way we talk of the horse radish, the
horse daisy, and the horse leech. In Turkey the fruit is given to
horses touched or broken in the wind, but in this country horses
will not eat it. Nevertheless, Horse Chestnuts may be used for
fattening cattle, particularly sheep, the nuts being cut up, and
mixed with oats, or beans. Their bitterness can be removed by first
washing the Chestnuts in lime water. Medicinally, the ripe nut of
this tree is employed, being collected in September or October,
and deprived of its shell. The odour of the flowers is powerful and
peculiar. No chemical analysis of them, or of the nuts, has been
made, but they are found to contain tannin freely. Rich-coloured,
of a reddish brown, and glossy, these nuts have given their name
to a certain shade of mellow dark auburn hair. Rosalind, in _As
You Like It_, says "Orlando's locks are of a good colour: I' faith
your Chestnut was ever the only colour."
Of the Horse Chestnut tincture, two or three drops, with a spoonful
of water, taken before meals and at bedtime, will cure almost any
simple case of piles in a week. Also, carrying a Horse Chestnut
about the person, is said to obviate giddiness, and to prevent piles.
Taken altogether, the Horse Chestnut, for its splendour of
blossom, and wealth of umbrageous leaf, [104] its polished
mahogany fruit, and its special medicinal virtues, is _facile
princeps_ the belle of our English trees. But, like many a
ball-room beauty, when the time comes for putting aside the gay leafy
attire, it is sadly untidy, and makes a great litter of its cast-off
clothing.
It has been ingeniously suggested that the cicatrix of the leaf
resembles a horse-shoe, with all its nails evenly placed.
The Sweet Spanish Chestnut tree is grown much less commonly in
this country, and its fruit affords only material for food, without
possessing medicinal properties; though, in the United States of
America, an infusion of the leaves is thought to be useful for
staying the paroxysms of whooping-cough. Of all known nuts, this
(the Sweet Chestnut, Stover Nut, or Meat Nut) is the most
farinaceous and least oily; hence it is more easy of digestion than
any other. To mountaineers it is invaluable, so that on the
Apennines and the Pyrenees the Chestnut harvest is the event of
the year. The Italian Chestnut-cakes, called _necci_, contain forty
per cent. of nutritious matter soluble in cold water; and Chestnut
flour, when properly prepared, is a capital food for children.
To be harvested the Chestnuts are spread on a frame of lattice-work
overhead, and a fire is kept burning underneath. When dry the
fruit is boiled, or steamed, or roasted, or ground into a kind of
flour, with which puddings are made, or an excellent kind of bread
is produced. The ripe Chestnut possesses a fine creamy flavour,
and when roasted it becomes almost aromatic. A good way to cook
Chestnuts is to boil them for twenty minutes, and then place them
for five minutes more in a Dutch oven.
It was about the fruit of the Spanish tree Shakespeare [105] said:
"A woman's tongue gives not half so great a blow to the ear as will
a Chestnut in a farmer's fire." In the United States of America an
old time-worn story, or oft repeated tale, is called in banter a
"Chestnut," and a stale joker is told "not to rattle the Chestnuts."
For convalescents, after a long serious illness, the French make a
chocolate of sweet Chestnuts, which is highly restorative. The nuts
are first cooked in _eau de vie_ until their shells and the pellicle
of the kernels can be peeled off; then they are beaten into a pulp
together with sufficient milk and sugar, with some cinnamon
added. The mixture is afterwards boiled with more milk, and
frothed up in a chocolate pot.