with the clay." More than one eminent oculist
has similarly advised that weak, ailing eyes should be daily wetted
on waking with the fasting saliva. And it is well known that
"mothers' marks" of a superficial character, but even of a
considerable size, become dissipated by a daily licking with the
mother's tongue. Old Mizaldus taught that "the fasting spittle of a
whole and sound person both quite taketh away all scurviness, or
redness of the face, ringworms, tetters, and all kinds [179] of
pustules, by smearing or rubbing the infected place therewith; and
likewise it clean puts away thereby all painful swelling by the
means of any venomous thing as hornets, spiders, toads, and such
like." Healthy saliva is slightly alkaline, and contains sulphocyanate
of potassium.

FENNEL.

We all know the pleasant taste of Fennel sauce when eaten with
boiled mackerel. This culinary condiment is made with Sweet
Fennel, cultivated in our kitchen gardens, and which is a variety of
the wild Fennel growing commonly in England as the Finkel,
especially in Cornwall and Devon, on chalky cliffs near the sea. It is
then an aromatic plant of the umbelliferous order, but differing from
the rest of its tribe in producing bright yellow flowers.

Botanically, it is the _Anethum foeniculum_, or "small fragrant
hay" of the Romans, and the _Marathron_ of the Greeks. The whole
plant has a warm carminative taste, and the old Greeks esteemed it
highly for promoting the secretion of milk in nursing mothers.
Macer alleged that the use of Fennel was first taught to man by
serpents. His classical lines on the subject when translated run
thus:--

"By eating herb of Fennel, for the eyes
A cure for blindness had the serpent wise;
Man tried the plant; and, trusting that his sight
Might thus be healed, rejoiced to find him right."

"Hac mansa serpens oculos caligine purgat;
Indeque compertum est humanis posse mederi
Illum hominibus: atque experiendo probatum est."

Pliny also asserts that the ophidia, when they cast their skins, have
recourse to this plant for restoring their [180] sight. Others have
averred that serpents wax young again by eating of the herb;
"Wherefore the use of it is very meet for aged folk."

Fennel powder may be employed for making an eyewash: half-a-teaspoonful
infused in a wineglassful of cold water, and decanted when
clear. A former physician to the Emperor of Germany saw a
monk cured b