bby
Dock." It was stated in the _Times Telescope_, 1822, "the women
of the poorer class in Derbyshire used to indulge in copious
draughts of Foxglove tea, as a cheap means of obtaining the
pleasures of intoxication. This was found to produce a great
exhilaration of the spirits, with other singular effects on the
system." So true is the maxim, _ubi virus, ibi virtus_.

No animal will touch the plant, which is biennial, and will only
develop its active principle _digitalin_, when getting some sunshine,
but remains inert when grown altogether in the shade. Therefore its
source of production for medicinal purposes is very important.

[207] FUMITORY.

The common Fumitory (_Fumaria officinalis_) is a small grey-green
plant, bearing well known little flowers, rose coloured, and tipped
with purple, whilst standing erect in every cornfield, vineyard, or
such-like manured place throughout Great Britain. It is so named
from the Latin _fumus terroe_, earth smoke, which refers either to
the appearance of its pretty glaucous foliage on a dewy summer
morning, or to the belief that it was produced not from seed but
from vapours rising out of the earth. The plant continues to flower
throughout the year, and was formerly much favoured for making
cosmetic washes to purify the skin of rustic maidens in the spring
time:--

"Whose red and purpled mottled flowers
Are cropped by maids in weeding hours
To boil in water, milk, or whey,
For washes on a holiday;
To make their beauty fair and sleek,
And scare the tan from summer's cheek."

In many parts of Kent the Fumitory bears the name of "Wax Dolls,"
because its rose coloured flowers, with their little, dark, purple
heads, are by no means unlike the small waxen toys given as
nurslings to children.

Dioscorides affirmed: "The juice of Fumitory, of that which
groweth among barley, with gum arabic, doth take away unprofitable
hairs that prick, being first plucked away, for it will not
suffer others to grow in their places." "It helpeth," says Gerard, "in
the summer time those that are troubled with scabs."

Pliny said it is named because causing the eyes to water as smoke
does. In Shakespeare the name is written Fumiter. It continues to
flower throughout the year, and its presence is thought to indicate
good deep rich land. There is also a "ramping" Fumitory [208]
(_capreolata_) which climbs; being found likewise in fields and
waste places