cording to Crollius, the woody scales of which the cones of the
pine-tree are composed "resemble the fore-teeth;" hence pine-leaves
boiled in vinegar were used as a garlic for the relief of toothache.
White-coral, from its resemblance to the teeth, was also in requisition,
because "it keepeth children to heed their teeth, their gums being
rubbed therewith." For improving the complexion, an ointment made of
cowslip-flowers was once recommended, because, as an old writer
observes, it "taketh away the spots and wrinkles of the skin, and adds
beauty exceedingly." Mr. Burgess, in his handy little volume on "English
Wild Flowers" (1868, 47), referring to the cowslip, says, "the village
damsels use it as a cosmetic, and we know it adds to the beauty of the
complexion of the town-immured lassie when she searches for and gathers
it herself in the early spring morning." Some of the old herbalists
speak of moss gathered from a skull as useful for disorders of the head,
and hence it was gathered and preserved.

The rupture-wort (_Herniaria glabra_) was so called from its fancied
remedial powers, and the scabious in allusion to the scaly pappus of its
seeds, which led to its use in leprous diseases. The well-known fern,
spleen-wort (_Asplenium_), had this name applied to it from the lobular
form of the leaf, which suggested it as a remedy for diseases of the
spleen. Another of its nicknames is miltwaste, because:--

"The finger-ferne, which being given to swine,
It makes their milt to melt away in fine--"

A superstition which seems to have originated in a curious statement
made by Vitruvius, that in certain localities in the island of Crete the
flocks and herds were found without spleen from their browsing on this
plant, whereas in those districts in which it did not grow the reverse
was the case. [20]

The yellow bark of the berberry-tree (_Berberis vulgaris_), [21] when
taken as a decoction in ale, or white wine, is said to be a purgative,
and to have proved highly efficacious in the case of jaundice, hence in
some parts of the country it is known as the "jaundice-berry." Turmeric,
too, was formerly prescribed--a plant used for making a yellow dye; [22]
and celandine, with its yellow juice, was once equally in repute.
Similar remedies we find recommended on the Continent, and in Westphalia
an apple mixed with saffron is a popular curative against jaundice. [23]
Rhubarb, too, we are told, by the doctrine of signatures, was