porarily benumbing such nervous action
as is reflected to distant organs of the body from some central organ
which is the actual seat of trouble. In this way the spasms of
epilepsy and of other convulsive distempers, are allayed. Large
doses of the plant, or of its berries, would, on the contrary,
aggravate these convulsive disorders.

In a French "_Recueil de Remedes domestiques_," 1682, _Avec
privilege du Roy_, we read, de l'epilepsie: "Il est certain que contre
ce deplorable mal le veritable Guy de Chene (Mistletoe) est un
remede excellent, curatif, preservatif, et qui soulage beaucoup dans
l'accident. Il le faut secher au four apres qu'on aura tire le pain: le
mettre en poudre fort subtile; passer cette poudre par un tamis de
foye, et la conserver pour le besoin. Il faut prendre les poids dun ecu
d'or de cette poudre chaque matin dans vin blanc tous les trois
derniers jours de la lune vieille. Il est encore bon que la personne
affligee de ce mal porte toujours un morceau de Guy de Chene
pendu a son col; mais ce morceau doit etre toujours frais, et sans
avoir ete mis au four." The active part of the plant is its resin
(_viscin_), which is yielded to spirit of wine in making a tincture.
This is prepared (H.) with proof spirit from the leaves and ripe
berries of our Mistletoe in equal quantities, but it is difficult of
manufacture owing to the viscidity of the sap. A special process is
employed of passing the material twice through a sausage machine,
and then mixing the mass with powdered glass before its percolation
with the spirit. A trituration made from the leaves, berries, and
tender twigs, is given for epilepsy, in doses of twenty grains, twice
or three times a day.

Nowadays the berries are taken by country people when finding
themselves troubled with severe stitches, [348] and they obtain
almost instantaneous relief. In accordance with which experience
Johnson says it was creditably reported to him, "That a few of the
berries of the Misseltoe, bruised and strained into oyle and drunken,
hath presently and forthwith rid a grievous and sore stitch." The
tincture, moreover, is put to a modern use as a heart tonic in place of
the foxglove. It lessens reflex irritability, and strengthens the
heart's beat, whilst raising the frequency of a slow pulse. Dr. J.
Wilde has shown that the Mistletoe possesses a high repute in rural
Hampshire for the cure of St. Vitus's dance, and similar spasmodic
nervous complaints. In