CULPEPER'S COMPLETE HEEBAL ACOKiTE,—(Aconitum Anthora,) Wk hare m&Dj poisonous Aconites growing in the fieldt, of which we ought to be cautious : but there is a medicinal one kept in the shop ; this is called the Wholesome Aconite ; Anthora^ and Wholesome Wolfsbane. Descrip.—This a small plant, being a species of Wolfsbane, or Monkshood, about a foot high, with pale divided green leaves, and yellow flowers. It grows erect, and the stalk is firm, angular, and hairj ; the leaves do not stand in pairs ; they are round almost, and cut into many divisions like those of Larkspur. The flowers are large and hooded, of a pleasant smell, and grow on the tops of the branches in spikes of a pale yellow colour, in shape like the flowers of Monkshood, but somewhat less, each succeeded by four or five horn-like pointed pods, containing black angular seeds. The root is tuberous, and sometimes consists of one lump or knob, sometimes of more. i*/a<r«.— This pant is a native of the Alps, but with ua ifl planted in gardens. Tiffu.— It flowers in July, and the seeds are ripe at the Utter end of August Oovemment and Virtue.—This plant is under the go- Temment of Saturn. The shoot only is used, and that not often. However, it is said to be very serviceable against Tegetable poisons. A decoction of the root is a good lotion to wash the parts bitten by venomous creatures but it is not much regarded at this time, and should be cautiously kept out of childrens' way, for there is a farina in the flower, which is very dangerous if blown in the eyes ; the leaves also, if nibbed on the skin, will irritate and cause soreness. AOA^lC.—(Agaricus.) Duerip.—This is a fungous substance, of a roundish, angular, unequal shape, from the size of a man's fist to hia 13

14 cttlpepeb's complete hebbal. head, white as bdow, and mealy when nibbed between thf fiugere; it has a few fibres, and a ash-coloured rind, the lower part being perforated, with small seeds in the holes. The taste is tirst sweetish, then bitter, acrid, and nauseous, with a slight astringencj. There are a great variety of these excrescences; they diflFer both in virtue and the substances on which they grow. One kind grows at the foot of oak trees, which is pleasant to eat, weighing from an ounce to two pounds, of a fleshy juicy substance, without pores, dotted on the outside with red, tasting like the meat of a lobster's claw. It ditfers in colour, the upper surface is a brown red, the under approaches a buff colour, sometimes full of pores, the inner substance is fleshy and succulent, streaked with deeper and paler red. Ihey are about a foot and a half round, apparently nothing but leaves encompassing each other ; these fungous leaves are halt an inch thick, all joining in one thick basis, by which it adheres to the stump of an oak tree. It consists of two sorts of fibres ; those which frame the outward surface are tou^h, and of a ligamentous fimiuess, place<l horizoutally; the others are soft and perpendicular to the first, forming the under surface, which is white and full of pores. Touchwood, or Spunk, is made from another kind of fungus growing on willows, full of minuute pores, covered with a white substance on the under side when fresh. A third kind grows on the trunks of the larch trees. Government and V^irtues.—It is under the government of Mercury in the sign of Leo. The best is white, light, and brittle. It evacuates phlegm, and is given in defluxions and disorders of the breast, but that only to strong people. It is reckoned a useless medicine, or rather noxious, for it loads the stomach, distends the viscera, create! a nausea, and causes vomiting. Its powder has been prescribed from half a dram to two drams. ALL-HEAL.—('Prvn^/Za Vulgaris.) It is also called HercnW All-heal, and Hercules' Wound-wort, because it is supposed that Hercules learned the herV> and its virtues from Chiron, when he learned physic of him. Descrip.— Its root is long, thick, and exceedingly full of juice, of a hot and biting taste : the leaves are great and \arge, and wingedalmost like Ash-tree leaves, but that the] are something hairy, each leaf consisting of six pairs