The Comfrey of our river banks, and moist watery places, is the
_Consound_, or Knit-back, or Bone-set, and Blackwort of country
folk; and the old _Symphytum_ of Dioscorides. It has derived
these names from the consolidating and vulnerary qualities
attributed to the plant, from _confirmo_, to strengthen together, or
the French, _comfrie_. This herb is of the Borage tribe, and is
conspicuous by its height of from one to two feet, its large rough
leaves, which provoke itching when handled, and its drooping
white or purple flowers growing on short stalks. Chemically, the
most important part of the plant is its "mucilage." This contains
tannin, asparagin, sugar, and starch granules. The roots are sweet,
sticky, and without any odour. "_Quia tanta proestantia est_," says
Pliny, "_ut si carnes duroe coquuntur conglutinet addita; unde
nomen!_"--"and the roots be so glutinative that they will solder or
glew together meat that is chopt in pieces, seething in a pot, and
make it into one lump: the same bruysed, and lay'd in the manner
of a plaister, doth heale all fresh and green wounds." These roots
are very brittle, and the least bit of them will start growing afresh.
[121] The whole plant, beaten to a cataplasm, and applied hot as a
poultice, has always been deemed excellent for soothing pain in
any tender, inflamed or suppurating part. It was formerly applied
to raw indolent ulcers as a glutinous astringent, and most useful
vulnerary. Pauli recommended it for broken bones, and externally
for wounds of the nerves, tendons, and arteries. More recently
surgeons have declared that the powdered root (which, when
broken, is white within, and full of a slimy juice), if dissolved in
water to a mucilage, is far from contemptible for bleedings,
fractures, and luxations, whilst it hastens the callus of bones under
repair. Its strong decoction has been found very useful in Germany
for tanning leather. The leaves were formerly employed for giving
a flavour to cakes and panada.
A modern medicinal tincture (H.) is made from the root-stock with
spirit of wine; and ten drops of this should be taken three or four
times a day with a tablespoonful of cold water. French nurses treat
cracked nipples by applying a hollow section of the fresh root over
the sore caruncle; and a decoction of the root made by boiling
from two to four drachms in a pint of water, is given for bleedings
from the lungs or bladder.
The name _Consound_, owned by the Common Comfrey, was given
likewise to the daisy and the bugle, in the middle ages. "It
joyeth," says Gerard, "in watery ditches, in fat and fruitful
meadows." A solve concocted from the fresh herb will certainly
tend to promote the healing of bruised and broken parts,
suggesting as an appropriate motto for the salve box: "Behold how
good and pleasant a thing it is to dwell together in unity! It is
like the precious ointment which ran down Aaron's beard." Some
foreknowledge [122] of the Comfrey perhaps inspired the Prophet
Isaiah to predict that after a time "the heart should rejoice and the
bones flourish like a herb." The Poet Laureate tells of
"This, the Consound,
Whereby the lungs are eased of their grief."
About a century ago, the _Prickly Comfrey_--a variety of our
Consound--was naturalised in this country from the Caucasus, and
has since proved itself amazingly productive to farmers, as, when
cultivated, it will grow six crops in the year; and the plant is both
preventive and curative of foot and mouth disease in cattle. It
bears flowers of a rich blue colour.
From our Common Comfrey a sort of glue is got in Angora, which
is used for spinning the famous fleeces of that country. Mr.
Cockayne relates that the locksman at Teddington informed him
how the bone of his little finger being broken, was grinding and
grunching so sadly for two months, that sometimes he felt quite
wrong in his head. One day he saw a doctor go by, and told him
about the distress. The doctor said: "You see that Comfrey
growing there? Take a piece of its root, and champ it, and put it
about your finger, and wrap it up." The man did so, and in four
days his finger was well.