dicamentum hoc non satis potest laudari; si res ex usu
oestimarentur, auro oequiparandum_. An infusion of the fresh herb,
or, if made in winter, from its dried leaves, and drank under the
name of Gill tea, is a favourite remedy with the poor for coughs of
long standing, accompanied with much phlegm. One ounce of the
herb should be infused in a pint of boiling water, and a wineglassful
of this when cool is to be taken three or four times in the day. The
botanical name of the plant is _Nepeta glechoma_, from _Nepet_, in
Tuscany, and the Greek _gleechon_, a mint.

Resembling Ivy in miniature, the leaves have been used in weaving
chaplets for the dead, as well as for adorning the Alestake erected as
a sign at taverns. For this reason, and because formerly in vogue for
clearing the ale drank by our Saxon ancestors, the herb acquired the
names of Ale hoof, and Tun hoof ("tun" signifying a garden, and
"hoof" or "hufe" a coronal or chaplet), [285] or Hove, "because,"
says Parkinson, "it spreadeth as a garland upon the ground." Other
titles which have a like meaning are borne by the herb, such as "Gill
go by the ground," and Haymaids, or Hedgemaids; the word "gill"
not only relating to the fermentation of beer, but meaning also a
maid. This is shown in the saying, "Every Jack should have his Gill,
or Jill"; and the same notion was conveyed by the sobriquet
"haymaids." Again in some districts the Ground Ivy is called "Lizzy
run up the hedge," "Cat's-foot" (from the soft flower heads), "Devil's
candlesticks," "Aller," and in Germltny "Thundervine," also in the
old English manuscripts "Hayhouse," "Halehouse," and "Horshone."
The whole plant was employed by our Saxon progenitors to clarify
their so-called beer, before hops had been introduced for this
purpose; and the place of refreshment where the beverage was sold
bore the name of a "Gill house."

In _A Thousand Notable Things_, it is stated, "The juice of Ground
Ivy sniffed up into the nostrils out of a spoon, or a saucer, purgeth
the head marvellously, and taketh away the greatest and oldest pain
thereof that is: the medicine is worth gold, though it is very cheap."

Small hairy tumours may often be seen in the autumn on the leaves
of the Ground Ivy occasioned (says Miss Pratt) by the punctures of
the _cynips glechomoe_ from which these galls spring. They have a
strong flavour of the plant, and are sometimes eaten by the
peasantry of France. The volatile oil on which the spec