nditions, and to expel thread worms, two
or three drops of the tincture diluted to its first decimal strength
should be given with a spoonful of water three or four times in the
day to a child of from four to six years.

TOADFLAX.

The Toadflax, or Flaxweed (_Linaria vulgaris_) belongs to the
scrofula-curing order of plants, getting its name from _linum_, flax,
and being termed "toad" by a [566] mistaken translation of its Latin
title _Bubonio_, this having been wrongly read _bufonio_,--
belonging to a toad,--or because having a flower (as the
Snapdragon) like a toad's mouth: whereas "bubonio" means "useful
for the groins."

It is an upright herbaceous plant most common in hedges, having
leaves like grass of a dull sea green aspect, and bearing dense
clusters of yellow flowers shaped like those of the garden
Snapdragon, with spurs at their base. It continues in flower until the
late autumn. The Russians cultivate the Snapdragon for the oil
yielded by its seeds.

The Toadflax has a faint disagreeable smell, and a bitter saline taste.
It acts medicinally as a powerful purge, and promoter of urine, and
therefore it is employed for carrying off the water of dropsies, being
in this respect a well known rural Simple. Waller says: "Country
people boil the whole plant in ale, and drink the decoction; but the
expressed juice of the fresh plant acts still more powerfully."

In many districts the herb is familiarly known as "butter and eggs;"
and in Germany though dedicated to the Virgin it is called "devil's
band."

Again in Devonshire it goes by the names of "Rambling," or
"Wandering Sailor," "Pedler's Basket," "Mother of Millions" (the
ivy-leaved sort), "Lion's Mouth" and "Flaxweed."

When used externally an infusion of the herb acts as an anodyne to
subdue irritation of the skin, and it may be taken as a medicine to
modify skin diseases. The fresh juice is attractive to flies, but at
the same time it serves to poison them: so if it be mixed with milk,
and placed where flies resort they will drink it and perish at the
first sip.

[567] As promoting a free flow of urine, the herb has been named
"Urinalis," or sometimes "Ramsted." The flowers contain a yellow
colouring matter, mucilage, and sugar. In Germany they are given
with the rest of the plant for dropsy, jaundice, piles, and some
diseases of the skin. Gerard says: "The decoction openeth the
stoppings of the liver, and spleen: and is singular good against th