, an
odorous principle, some tannin, and various salts. Its most
interesting constituent is the "viscin," or bird glue, which is mainly
developed by fermentation, and becomes a yellowish, sticky,
resinous mass, such as can be used with success as a bird-lime.

The dried young twigs, and the leaves, are chiefly the medicinal
parts, though young children have been attacked with convulsions
after eating freely of the berries.

The name (in Anglo-Saxon, _Mistiltan_) is derived, says Dr. Prior,
from _mistil_, "different," and _tan_, "a twig," [346] because so
unlike the tree it grows upon; or, perhaps, _mist_ may refer to
excrement, and the adjective, _viscum_, bear some collateral
reference to viscera, "entrails." Probably our _viscum_ plant differs
from that of the Latin writers in their accounts of the Druids, which
would be the _Loranthus_ growing on the _Quercus pubescens_ (an
oak indigenous to the south of France). They knew it by a name
answering to "all-heal." It is of a larger and thicker sort than our
common Mistletoe, which, however, possesses the same virtues in a
lesser degree. The Germans call the plant _Vogellein_, and the
French _Gui_, which is probably Celtic.

The plant is given powdered, or as an infusion, or made into a
tincture (H.) with spirit of wine. From ten to sixty grains of the
powder may be taken for a dose, or a decoction may be made by
boiling two ounces of the bruised plant with half-a-pint of water,
and giving one tablespoonful for a dose several times in the day; or
from five to ten drops of the tincture (which is prepared almost
exclusively by the homoeopathic chemists) are a dose, with one or
two tablespoonfuls of cold water.

Sir John Colebatch published in 1720 a pamphlet, on _The
Treatment of Epilepsy by Mistletoe_, regarding it, and with much
justice, as a specific. He procured the parasite from the lime trees at
Hampton Court. The powdered leaves were ordered to be given (in
black cherry water), as much of these as will lie on a sixpence every
morning.

Sir John says, "This beautiful plant must have been designed by the
Almighty for further and more noble purposes than barely to feed
thrushes, or to be hung up superstitiously in houses to drive away
evil spirits." His treatise was entitled, _A Dissertation concerning
the Misseltoe--A most wonderful Specifick Remedy for the Cure of
Convulsive Distempers_. The physiological effect of the [347] plant
is that of lessening, and tem