The old herbalists call this plant Cow-wort; and it would well deserve the name of Blessed Herb if it would only cure half the maladies for which they recommend it. One of them describes it as "a good and wholesome herb, excellent for diseases of the chest, by its sweet savour and warming quality; the roots, whether green or dry, boiled in wine and drank, being fit to cure all inward wounds;" while the external application was thought to remove all spots, bruises, and freckles from the face. "The root in the spring time steeped in wine," says this old author, "doth give it a delicate savour and taste, and being drunk fasting every morning, it comforteth the heart, and is a good preservative against plague or any other poison." He adds, "It is very safe, you need have no dose prescribed, and it is very fit to be kept in any body's house."

Besides the old names already stated, this plant was called Caryophyllata, from the clove-like scent of its root; and there is no doubt that the root has both mildly astringent and tonic properties, having been compared in this respect to Peruvian bark. It is still used in country places for giving a relish to various articles of food, and yet more often to some wines made from the different berries which our native land affords. It is also gathered in the spring and put into ale, and not only improves the flavour of the liquor, but prevents its turning sour. Like many another plant, however, it was more valued in the olden time than now, when spices are cheap, and easily procured.

Although it has a long-established repute as being, when infused in fermented liquors, a valuable stomachic,

yet Baron Haller says of this root, that if mingled with water, and given, as it formerly was, in malignant fevers, it causes delirium. Its use for putting among linen to preserve from moth, and to impart a pleasant odour, however, is much more general in these days than for any medicinal purposes; and for this the root should be taken from a dry sunny spot, just at the season when it is coming into flower; for if these conditions are not observed, it will be found to want the aromatic odour for which it has become so celebrated.

2. G. rivále (Water Avens).-Flowers drooping; awns feathery; root-leaves pinnate, with the alternate leaflets and those at the base smaller; stem-leaves ternate. Plant perennial. This species has altogether a very different habit from the preceding. It is a much shorter and stouter plant, with larger flowers, of a dull purplish hue, veined with darker purple, and the calyx is also deeply tinged with this colour. It is sometimes found very high up mountains, so as to be quite an Alpine plant, and it is not uncommon in wet mountainous woods, or on marshy and moory grounds, flowering from May to August. Its root is said to be stomachic, and to be very serviceable as an astringent medicine. Professor Lindley thinks it probable that this is the Indian chocolate, as the plant is much used medicinally in North America. The Canadians administer both species of Geum in agues.

Some botanists enumerate a third species, called Geum intermedium, which is not an unfrequent plant in damp woods. Its stem is one or two feet in height; its flowers larger than those of Geum urbánum, and smaller