The purple Foxglove (_Digitalis purpurea_) which every one knows
and admires for its long graceful spikes of elegant bell-shaped
brilliant blossoms seen in our woods and hedges, is also called the
Thimble Flower, or the Finger Flower, from the resemblance of
these blossoms to a thimble or to the fingers of a glove. The word
digitalis refers likewise to the digits, or fingers of a gauntlet. In
France the title is _Gants de Notre Dame_, the gloves of our Lady
the Virgin. Some writers give Folks' Glove, or Fairies' Glove as the
proper English orthography, but this is wrong. Our name of the
plant comes really from the Anglo-Saxon, Foxesglew or Fox music,
in allusion to an ancient musical instrument composed of bells
which were hanging from an arched support, _a tintinnabulum_,
which this plant with its pendent bell-shaped flowers so exactly
represents.
In Ireland the Foxglove is known as the Great Herb, and Lusmore,
also the Fairy Cap; and in Wales it is the Goblin's Gloves; whilst in
the North of Scotland it is the Dead men's Bells. We read in the
_Lady of the Lake_ there grew by Loch Katrine:--
"Night shade and Foxglove side by side,
Emblems of punishment and pride."
In Devonshire the plant is termed Poppy, because when one of the
bell-shaped flowers is inflated by the breath whilst the top edges are
held firmly together; the wind bag thus formed, if struck smartly
against the other hand, goes off with a sounding pop. The peasantry
also call it "Flop a dock." Strangely enough, the Foxglove, so
handsome and striking in a landscape, is not [206] mentioned by
Shakespeare, or by either of the old English poets. The "long
purples" of Shakespeare refers to the _orchis mascula_.
Chemically, the Foxglove contains a dangerous, active, medicinal
principle _digitalin_, which acts powerfully on the heart, and on the
kidneys, but this should never be given in any preparation of the
plant except under medical guidance, and then only with much
caution. Parkinson speaks highly of the bruised herb, or of its
expressed juice, for scrofulous swellings when applied outwardly in
the form of an ointment. An officinal tincture is made from the
plants collected in the spring, when two years old; also, in some
villages the infusion is employed as a homely remedy to cure a cold,
the herb being known as "Throttle Wort;" but this is not a safe thing
to do, for medical experience shows that the watery infusion of
Foxglove acts much more powerfully than the spirituous tincture,
which is eight times stronger, and from this fact it may fairly be
inferred that the presence of alcohol, as in the tincture, directly
opposes the specific action of the plant. This herb bears further in
some districts the names "Flop Top," "Cow Flop," and "Flabby
Dock." It was stated in the _Times Telescope_, 1822, "the women
of the poorer class in Derbyshire used to indulge in copious
draughts of Foxglove tea, as a cheap means of obtaining the
pleasures of intoxication. This was found to produce a great
exhilaration of the spirits, with other singular effects on the
system." So true is the maxim, _ubi virus, ibi virtus_.
No animal will touch the plant, which is biennial, and will only
develop its active principle _digitalin_, when getting some sunshine,
but remains inert when grown altogether in the shade. Therefore its
source of production for medicinal purposes is very important.
[207] FUMITORY.
The common Fumitory (_Fumaria officinalis_) is a small grey-green
plant, bearing well known little flowers, rose coloured, and tipped
with purple, whilst standing erect in every cornfield, vineyard, or
such-like manured place throughout Great Britain. It is so named
from the Latin _fumus terroe_, earth smoke, which refers either to
the appearance of its pretty glaucous foliage on a dewy summer
morning, or to the belief that it was produced not from seed but
from vapours rising out of the earth. The plant continues to flower
throughout the year, and was formerly much favoured for making
cosmetic washes to purify the skin of rustic maidens in the spring
time:--
"Whose red and purpled mottled flowers
Are cropped by maids in weeding hours
To boil in water, milk, or whey,
For washes on a holiday;
To make their beauty fair and sleek,
And scare the tan from summer's cheek."
In many parts of Kent the Fumitory bears the name of "Wax Dolls,"
because its rose coloured flowers, with their little, dark, purple
heads, are by no means unlike the small waxen toys given as
nurslings to children.
Dioscorides affirmed: "The juice of Fumitory, of that which
groweth among barley, with gum arabic, doth take away unprofitable
hairs that prick, being first plucked away, for it will not
suffer others to grow in their places." "It helpeth," says Gerard, "in
the summer time those that are troubled with scabs."
Pliny said it is named because causing the eyes to water as smoke
does. In Shakespeare the name is written Fumiter. It continues to
flower throughout the year, and its presence is thought to indicate
good deep rich land. There is also a "ramping" Fumitory [208]
(_capreolata_) which climbs; being found likewise in fields and
waste places, but its infusion produces purgative effects.
The whole plant has a saline, bitter, and somewhat acrid taste. It
contains "fumaric acid," and the alkaloid "fumarina," which are
specially useful for scrofulous diseases of the skin. A decoction of
the herb makes a curative lotion for the milk-crust which disfigures
the scalp of an infant, and for grown up persons troubled with
chronic eruptions on the face, or freckles.
The fresh juice may be given as a medicine; or an infusion made
with an ounce of the plant to a pint of boiling water, one
wineglassful for a dose twice or three times in the day.
By the ancients Fumitory was named _Capnos_, smoke: Pliny wrote
"_Claritatem facit inunctis oculis delachrymationemque, ceu fumus,
unde nomen_." They esteemed the herb specially useful for
dispelling dimness of the sight, and for curing other infirmities of
the eyes.
The leaves, which have no particular odour, throw up crystals of
nitre on their surface when cool. The juice may be mixed with
whey, and taken as a common drink, or as a medicinal beverage for
curing obstinate skin eruptions, and for overcoming obstructions of
the liver and digestive organs. Dr. Cullen found it most useful in
leprous skin disease. The juice from the fresh herb may be given
two ounces in the day, but the virtues remain equally in the dried
plant. Its smoke was said by the ancient exorcists to have the power
of expelling evil spirits. The famous physician, John of Milan,
extolled Fumitory as a sovereign remedy against malarious fever.
It is a remarkable fact, that the colour of the hair and the complexion
seem to determine the liability, or [209] otherwise, of a European to
West Coast fever in Africa. A man with harsh, bright-coloured red
hair, such as is common in Scotland, has a complete immunity,
though running the same risks as another mall, dark and with a dry
skin, who seems absolutely doomed. A red-haired European will, as
a rule, keep his health where even the natives are attacked. Old
negresses have secret methods of cure which can, undoubtedly, save
life even in cases which have become hopeless to European medical
science.
GARLIC, LEEK, and ONION.
Seeming at first sight out of place among the lilies of the field, yet
Garlic, the Leek, and the Onion are true members of that noble
order, and may be correctly classified together with the favoured
tribe, "Clothed more grandly than Solomon in all his glory." They
possess alike the same properties and characteristics, though in
varying degrees, and they severally belong to the genus _Allium_,
each containing "allyl," which is a radical rich in sulphur.
The homely Onion may be taken first as the best illustration of the
family. This is named technically _Allium cepa_, from _cep_, a
head (of bunched florets which it bears). Lucilius called it _Flebile
coepe_, because the pungency of its odour will provoke a flow of
tears from the eyes. As Shakespeare says, in _Taming of the
Shrew_:--
"Mine eyes smell onions;
I shall weep anon."
The Egyptians were devoted to Onions, which they ate more than
two thousand years before the time of Christ. They were given to
swear by the Onion and [210] Garlic in their gardens. Herodotus
tells us that during the building of the pyramids nine tons of gold
were spent in buying onions for the workmen. But it is to be noted
that in Egypt the Onion is sweet and soft; whereas, in other
countries it grows hard, and nauseous, and strong.
By the Greeks this bulb was called Krommuon, "_apo tau Meuein
tas koras_," because of shutting the eyes when eating it. In Latin its
name _unio_, signified a single root without offsets.
Raw Onions contain an acrid volatile oil, sulphur, phosphorus,
alkaline earthy salts, phosphoric and acetic acids, with phosphate
and citrate of lime, starch, free uncrystallized sugar, and lignine.
The fresh juice is colourless, but by exposure to the air becomes red.
A syrup made from the juice with honey is an excellent medicine
for old phlegmatic persons in cold weather, when their lungs are
stuffed, and the breathing is hindered.
Raw Onions increase the flow of urine, and promote perspiration,
insomuch, that a diet of them, with bread, has many a time cured
dropsy coming on through a chill at first, or from exposure to cold.
They contain the volatile principle, "sulphide of allyl," which is
acrid and stimulating. If taken in small quantities, Onions quicken
the circulation, and assist digestion; but when eaten more prodigally
they disagree.
In making curative Simples, the Onion (and Garlic) should not be
boiled, else the volatile essential oil, on which its virtues chiefly
depend, will escape during the process.
The principal internal effects of the Onion, the Leek, and Garlic, are
stimulation and warmth, so that they are of more salutary use when
the subject is of a cold [211] temperament, and when the vital
powers are feeble, than when the body is feverish, and the
constitution ardently excitable. "They be naught," says Gerard, "for
those that be cholericke; but good for such as are replete with raw
and phlegmatick humors." _Vous tous qui etes gros, et gras, et
lymphatiques, avec l'estomac paresseux, mangez l'oignon cru; c'est
pour vous que le bon Dieu l'a fait_.
Onions, when eaten at night by those who are not feverish, will
promote sleep, and induce perspiration. The late Frank Buckland
confirmed this statement. He said, "I am sure the essential oil of
Onions has soporific powers. In my own case it never fails. If I am
much pressed with work, and feel that I am not disposed to sleep, I
eat two or three small Onions, and the effect is magical." The Onion
has a very sensitive organism, and absorbs all morbid matter that
comes in its way. During our last epidemic of cholera it puzzled the
sanitary inspectors of a northern town why the tenants of one
cottage in an infected row were not touched by the plague. At last
some one noticed a net of onions hanging in the fortunate house,
and on examination all these proved to have become diseased. But
whilst welcoming this protective quality, the danger must be
remembered of eating an onion which shows signs of decay, for it
cannot be told what may have caused this distemper.
When sliced, and applied externally, the raw Onion serves by its
pungent and essential oil to quicken the circulation, and to redden
the skin of the particular surface treated in this way; very usefully
so in the case of an unbroken chilblain, or to counteract neuralgic
pain; but in its crude state the bulb is not emollient or demulcent. If
employed as a poultice for ear-ache, or broken chilblains, the Onion
should be roasted, so as to [212] modify its acrid oil. When there is
a constant arid painful discharge of fetid matter from the ear, or
where an abscess is threatened, with pain, heat, and swelling, a hot
poultice of roasted Onions will be found very useful, and will
mitigate the pain. The juice of a sliced raw Onion is alkaline, and
will quickly relieve the acid venom of a sting from a wasp, or bee, if
applied immediately to the part.
A tincture is made (H.) from large, red, strong Onions for medicinal
purposes. As a warming expectorant in chronic bronchitis, or
asthma, or for a cold which is not of a feverish character, from half
to one teaspoonful of this tincture may be given with benefit three
or four times in the day in a wineglassful of hot water, or hot milk.
Likewise, a jorum (_i.e._, an earthen bowl) of hot Onion broth taken
at bedtime, serves admirably to soothe the air passages, and to
promote perspiration; after the first feverish stage of catarrh or
influenza has passed by. To make this, peel a large Spanish Onion,
and divide it into four parts; then put them into a saucepan, with half
a saltspoonful of salt, and two ounces of butter, and a pint of cold
water; let them simmer gently until quite tender; next pour all into a
bowl which has been made hot, dredging a little pepper over; and let
the porridge be eaten as hot as it can be taken.
The allyl and sulphur in the bulbs, together with their mucilaginous
parts, relieve the sore mucous membranes, and quicken perspiration,
whilst other medicinal virtues are exercised at the same time on the
animal economy.
By eating a few raw parsley sprigs immediately afterwards, the
strong smell which onions communicates to the breath may be
removed and dispelled. Lord [213] Bacon averred "the rose will be
sweeter if planted in a bed of onions." So nutritious does the
Highlander find this vegetable, that, if having a few raw bulbs in his
pocket, with oat-cake, or a crust of bread, he can travel for two or
three days together without any other food. Dean Swift said:--
"This is every cook's opinion,
No savoury dish without an onion,
But lest your kissing should be spoiled,
Your onions must be fully boiled."
Provings have been made by medical experts of the ordinary red
Onion in order to ascertain what its toxical effects are when pushed
to an excessive degree, and it has been found that Onions, Leeks,
or Garlic, when taken immoderately, induce melancholy and
depression, with severe catarrh. They dispose to sopor, lethargy, and
even insanity. The immediate symptoms are extreme watering of the
eyes after frequent sneezing, confusion of the head, and heavy
defluxion from the nose, with pains in the throat extending to the
ears; in a word, all the accompaniments of a bad cold, sneezings,
lacrymation, pains in the forehead, and a hoarse, hacking cough.
These being the effects of taking Onions in a harmful quantity, it is
easy to understand that when the like morbid symptoms have arisen
spontaneously from other causes, as from a sharp catarrh of the head
and chest, then modified forms of the Onion are calculated to
counteract them on the law of similars, so that a cure is promptly
produced. On which principle the Onion porridge is a scientific
remedy, as food, and as Physic, during the first progress of a
catarrhal attack, and _pari passu_ the medicinal tincture of the red
Onion may be likewise curatively given.
[214] Spanish Onions, which are imported into this country in the
winter, are sweet and mucilaginous. A peasant in Spain will munch
an onion just as an English labourer eats an apple.
At the present day Egyptians take onions, roasted, and each cut into
four pieces, with small bits of baked meat, and slices of an acid
apple, which the Turks call kebobs. With this sweet and savoury dish
they are so delighted, that they trust to enjoy it in paradise. The
Israelites were willing to return to slavery and brick-making for
their love of the Onion; and we read that Hecamedes presented
some of the bulbs to Patrochus, in _Homer_, as a regala. These are
supplied liberally to the antelopes and giraffes in our Zoological
Gardens, which animals dote on the Onion.