e 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, _Kirschwa