fresh twigs,
or on half-an-ounce of the bruised root, to make an infusion,
which may be taken as tea. The root is at first sweet to the taste,
and afterwards bitter.

BRYONY.

English hedgerows exhibit Bryony of two distinct sorts--the white
and the black--which differ much, the one from the other, as to
medicinal properties, and which belong to separate orders of
plants. The White Bryony is botanically a cucumber, being of
common growth at our roadsides, and often called the White Vine;
it also bears the name of Tetterberry, from curing a disease of the
skin known as tetters. It climbs about with long straggling stalks,
which attach themselves by spiral tendrils, and which produce
rough, palmated leaves. Insignificant pale-green flowers spring in
small clusters from the bottom of these leaves. The round berries
are at first green, and afterwards brilliantly red. Chemically, the
plant contains "bryonin," a medicinal substance which is intensely
bitter; also malate and phosphate of lime, with gum, starch, and
sugar.

A tincture is made (H.) from the fresh root collected before the
plant flowers, which is found to [66] be of superlative use for the
relief of chronic rheumatism (especially when aggravated by
moving), and for subduing active congestions of the serous
membranes which line the heart-bag, the ribs, the outer coat of the
brain, and which cover the bowels. In the treatment of pleurisy,
this tincture is invaluable. Four drops should be given in a
tablespoonful of cold water every three or four hours. Also for any
contused bruising of the skin, and especially for a black eye, to
promptly bathe the injured part with a decoction of White
Bryony root will speedily subdue the swelling, and will prevent
discoloration far better than a piece of raw beef applied outside as
the remedy most approved in the Ring.

In France, the White Bryony is deemed so potent and perilous, that
its root is named the devil's turnip--_navet du diable_.

Our English plant, the _Bryonia dioica_, purges as actively as
colocynth, if too freely administered.

The name Bryony is two thousand years old, and comes from a
Greek word _bruein_, "to shoot forth rapidly."

From the incised root of the White Bryony exudes a milky juice
which is aperient of action, and which has been commended for
epilepsy, as well as for obstructed liver and dropsy; also its
tincture for chronic constipation.

The popular herbal drink known as Hop Bitter