. . 161, 610
Wormwood . . . 355, 612
Woundwort, Hedge . . . 615

Yarrow 616
Yew 619

[1] INTRODUCTION.

The art of _Simpling _is as old with us as our British hills. It aims
at curing common ailments with simple remedies culled from the
soil, or got from home resources near at hand.

Since the days of the Anglo-Saxons such remedies have been
chiefly herbal; insomuch that the word "drug" came originally
from their verb _drigan_, to dry, as applied to medicinal plants.

These primitive Simplers were guided in their choice of herbs
partly by watching animals who sought them out for self-cure, and
partly by discovering for themselves the sensible properties of the
plants as revealed by their odour and taste; also by their supposed
resemblance to those diseases which nature meant them to heal.

John Evelyn relates in his _Acetaria_ (1725) that "one Signor
Faquinto, physician to Queen Anne (mother to the beloved martyr,
Charles the First), and formerly physician to one of the Popes,
observing scurvy and dropsy to be the epidemical and dominant
diseases [2] of this nation, went himself into the hundreds of
Essex, reputed the most unhealthy county of this island, and used
to follow the sheep and cattle on purpose to observe what plants
they chiefly fed upon; and of these Simples he composed an
excellent electuary of marvellous effects against these same
obnoxious infirmities." Also, in like manner, it was noticed by
others that "the dog, if out of condition, would seek for certain
grasses of an emetic or purgative sort; sheep and cows, when
ill, would devour curative plants; an animal suffering from
rheumatism would remain as much as it could in the sunshine; and
creatures infested by parasites would roll themselves frequently in
the dust." Again, William Coles in his _Nature's Paradise, or, Art
of Simpling_ (1657), wrote thus: "Though sin and Sathan have
plunged mankinde into an ocean of infirmities, jet the mercy of
God, which is over all His works, maketh grass to grow upon the
mountaines, and Herbes for the use of men; and hath not only
stamped upon them a distinct forme, but also given them particular
signatures, whereby a man may read even in legible characters the
use of them."

The present manual of our native Herbal Simples seeks rather to
justify their uses on the sound basis of accurate chemical analysis,
and precise elementary research. Hitherto medicinal herbs have
come down to us from early time