source:
but herein a mistake is committed, because sheep are really averse
to such pasturage, and refuse it if they can get other food.

An infusion of the leaves of Thyme, whether wild, or cultivated,
makes an excellent aromatic tea, the odour of which is sweet and
fragrant, whilst the taste of the [563] plant is bitter and
camphoraceous. There is in some districts an old superstition that to
bring wild Thyme into the house conveys severe illness, or death to
some member of the family.

In Grecian days the Attic elegance of style was said to show an
odour of Thyme. Shenstone's schoolmistress had a garden:--

"Where herbs for use and physic not a few
Of grey renown within those borders grew,
The tufted Basil,--_pun provoking_ Thyme,
The lordly Gill that never dares to climb."

Bacon in his _Essay on Gardens_ recommends to set whole alleys
of Thyme for the pleasure of its perfume when treading on the plant.
And Dioscorides said Thyme used in food helps dimness of sight.

Gerard adds: "Wild Thyme boiled in wine and drunk is good against
the wamblings and gripings of the belly": whilst Culpeper describes
it as "a strengthener of the lungs, as notable a one as grows." "The
Thyme of Candy, Musk Thyme, or Garden Thyme is good against
the sciatica, and to be given to those that have the falling sickness,
to smell to."

The volatile essential oil of Wild Thyme (as well as of Garden
Thyme) consists of two hydrocarbons, with thymol as the fatty base,
this thymol being readily soluble in fats and oils when heated, and
taking high modern rank as an antiseptic. It will arrest gastric
fermentation when given judiciously as a medicine, though an
overdose will bring on somnolence, with a ringing in the ears.
Officinally Thymol, the stearoptene obtained from the volatile oil of
_Thymus vulgaris_, is directed to be given in a dose of from half to
two grains.

[564] Thymol is valued by some authorities more highly even than
carbolic acid for destroying the germs of disease, or for disinfecting
them. It is of equal service with tar for treating such skin affections
as psoriasis, and eczema. When inhaled thymol is most useful
against septic sore throat, especially during scarlet fever. At the
hospital for throat diseases the following formula is ordered:
Thymol twenty grains to rectified spirit of wine three drachms, and
carbonate of magnesia ten grains, with water to three ounces; a
teaspoonful to be used in a p