queat_.

But after all has been said and done, none the less must it be
finally acknowledged in the pathetic utterance of King Alfred's
Anglo-Saxon proverb, _Nis [14] no wurt woxen on woode ne on
felde, per enure mage be lif uphelden_.

"No wort is waxen in wood or wold,
Which may for ever man's life uphold."

Neither to be discovered in the quaint Herbals of primitive times,
nor to be learnt by the advanced chemical knowledge of modern
plant lore, is there any panacea for all the ills to which our flesh
is heir, or an elixir of life, which can secure for us a perpetual
immunity from sickness. _Contra vim mortis nullum medicamentum
in hortis_, says the rueful Latin distich:--

"No healing herb can conquer death,
And so for always give us breath."

To sum up which humiliating conclusion good George Herbert has
put the matter thus with epigrammatic conciseness:--

"St. Luke was a saint and a physician, yet he is dead!"

But none the less bravely we may still take comfort each in his
mortal frailty, because of the hopeful promise preached to men
long since by the son of Sirach, "A faithful friend is the Medicine
of life; they that fear the Lord shall find Him."

[15] ACORN.

This is the well-known fruit of our British Oak, to Which tree it
gives the name--_Aik_, or _Eik_, Oak.

The Acorn was esteemed by Dioscorides, and other old authors,
for its supposed medicinal virtues. As an article of food it is not
known to have been habitually used at any time by the inhabitants
of Britain, though acorns furnished the chief support of the large
herds of swine on which our forefathers subsisted. The right of
maintaining these swine in the woods was called "panage," and
formed a valuable property.

The earliest inhabitants of Greece and Southern Europe who lived
in the primeval forests were supported almost wholly on the fruit
of the Oak. They were described by classic authors as fat of
person, and were called "balanophagi"--acorn eaters.

During the great dearth of 1709 the French were driven to eat
bread of acorns steeped in water to destroy the bitterness, and they
suffered therefrom injurious effects, such as obstinate
constipation, or destructive cholera.

It is worth serious notice medically that in years remarkable for a
large yield of Acorns disastrous losses have occurred among
young cattle from outbreaks of acorn poisoning, or the acorn
disease. Those up to two years old suffered m