ial virtues of
the Ground Ivy depend exudes from small glandular dots on the
under surface of the leaves. This is the active ingredient of Gill tea
made by country persons, and sweetened with honey, sugar, or
liquorice. Also the expressed juice of the herb is [286] equally
effectual, being diaphoretic, diuretic, and somewhat astringent
against bleedings.

Gerard says that in his day "the Ground Ivy was commended against
the humming sound, and ringing noises of the ears by being put into
them, and for those that are hard of hearing. Also boiled in mutton
broth it helpeth weak and aching backs." Dr. Thornton tells us in his
_Herbal _(1810) that "Ground Ivy was at one time amongst the
'cries' of London, for making a tea to purify the blood," and Dr.
Pitcairn extolled this plant before all other vegetable medicines for
the cure of consumption. Perhaps the name Ground Ivy was
transferred at first to the _Nepeta_ from the Periwinkle, about which
we read in an old distich of Stockholm:--

"Parvenke is an erbe green of colour,
In time of May he bereth blo flour,
His stalkes are so feynt and feye
That nevermore groweth he heye:
On the grounde he rynneth and growe
As doth the erbe that _hyth tunhowe_;
The lef is thicke, schinende and styf
As is the grene Ivy leef:
Uniche brod, and nerhand rownde;
Men call it the _Ivy of the grounde_."

In the _Organic Materia Medica_ of Detroit, U.S.A., 1890, it is
stated, "Painters use the Ground Ivy (_Nepeta glechoma_) as a
remedy for, and a preventive of lead colic." An infusion is given
(the ounce to a pint of boiling water)--one wineglassful for a dose
repeatedly. In the relief which it affords as a snuff made from the
dried leaves to congestive headache of a passive continued sort, this
benefit is most probably due partly to the special titillating aroma of
the plant, and partly to the copious defluxion of mucus and tears
from the nasal passages, and the eyes.

[287] JOHN'S WORT.

The wild Saint John's Wort (_Hypericum peiforatum_) is a frequent
plant in our woods and hedgebanks, having leaves studded with
minute translucent vesicles, which seem to perforate their structure,
and which contain a terebinthinate oil of fragrant medicinal virtues.

The name _Hypericum_ is derived from the two Greek words,
_huper eikon_, "over an apparition," because of its supposed power
to exorcise evil spirits, or influences; whence it was also formerly