What many under Mars, and many under Saturn. plant was I talking on? Chickweed. Yes! Chickweed belongs to the moon. And, as you might, perhaps, not believe me, hear what Culpeper says: This herb bruised, or the juice applied with cloths or sponges dipped therein, to the region of the liver, doth wonderfully temperate the inflammation thereof. It is effectual for all swellings and imposthumes; for all redness in the face, wheals, pushes, itches, and scabs. The juice, either simply used, and boiled with hog's lard, and applied to the part, helpeth cramps, convulsions, and palsy. The juice or distilled water is of much good use for all heats and redness in the eyes, to drop some thereof into them. It is good, also, in virulent sores and ulcers of the leg and other parts of the body. The leaves boiled with marsh-mallows and made into a poultice, with fenugreek and linseed, helpeth the sinews when they are shrunk by cramp or otherwise.' That's what Culpeper says of chickweed, which you may see is not sent by a kind Providence for the birds only. Andgrunsel' (groundsel) is just as good, if not better; for grunsel is under the dominion of Venus. I shan't tell you what I think of it, 'cause you might think I was a exaggerating, or that I was a drawin' on my fancy, which I assure you I never does in the matter of any plant, big or little, common or uncommon. Culpeper was in love with grunsel, I do believe. He says that this herb is Venus's masterpiece, and is as gallant and universal a remedy for all diseases coming of heat, in whatever part of the body they may be, as any that the sun shines upon. It is very safe and friendly to the body of man; yet causeth vomiting if the stomach be affected, if not, purging, which it doth with more gentleness than might be expected.' Old Culpeper didn't like the doctors-they got the guineas out of people in his time, as they do in ours, a vast deal too easily. Lay by your learned Latin receipts,' he says; about 'so many grains of senna, and scammony, and colocynth, and crocus metallora '—whatever that may mean—ʻ and grunsel alone in a syrup, or distilled water, shall do the deed for you, in all hot diseases, speedily and safely. Nor is this all; it is excellent for jaundice, the cholic, sciatica, and the gravel.' In short,” added Jack, "it's about the best physic as goes." I plucked a nettle as Jack concluded, with a gloved hand, bien entendu, and asked him, "Has this vile thing any virtue?" "Vile thing!” he responded indignantly. “Why vile? it is one of the best plants as grows; a prime gift of God to poor ungrateful human kind. Call a nettle vile! But you don't mean it-I know you don't! Bless your heart! the nettle-you may discover it in the dark, as old Culpeper says-is good for scores of diseases. Mars is the lord of it; for the nettle, like Mars, is fiery. Nettle broth is good for shortness of breath, and the asthma. Look into Culpeper and see if it isn't good also for pleurisy and sore throat; good for the gravel; good for worms in children; and as I have heerd say, and believe, good for the sting of adders and pisonous snakes; and the bite of mad dogs. Nettles! why we can make beer of 'em, and very good beer too." I think Jack would have gone on for an hour or more about the nettles-had I not stopped to pluck a daisy as he finished his laudation, and, offering it to him, asked if there were any medicinal properties in that, and under what planet he supposed daisies to be born? Its juice distilled is good "Suppose them to be born?" he replied, "I KNOW them to be born under Venus. Culpeper says so. That's enough for me. As for the virtues of the daisy, it has lots an' lots. for the liver complaint. the lips, or the tongue, it is the best thing in the world. But look to Culpeper if you want to know more; all I say is, that its leaves and flowers, as well as its juice, is good for inflammations and swellings, and eases the pains of gout, rheumatism, and sciatica. I gather cart-loads of daisies every year and sells 'em; THE LANGUAGE OF ANIMALS. HO has not read the Arabian Nights' Entertainments? I pity the man or woman, if any such there be, who has not; or, if I do not pity them, I envy the treat in store for them, if they will turn from the error of their ways, and read the fascinating book from beginning to end. Among the stories which first fixes the attention of most people is that of the merchant who understood the language of animals. And a delightful story it is. In "Æsop's Fables," also, where the beasts and the birds talk to each other and to mankind, no reader, who has a proper faith in what he reads, is in the least degree surprised at the sagacity which the animals display and put into the most natural language imaginable. The fox did say the grapes were sour; the wolf did fix an unconscionable quarrel upon the poor little lamb which he wanted to devour, and the lion did really express to the man his candid opinion upon the favouritism of por |