ntation in the stomach. In France Mulberries are
served at the beginning of a meal. Among the Romans the fruit was
famous for maladies of the throat and windpipe.

The tree does not bear until it is somewhat advanced in age. It
contains in every part a milky juice, which will coagulate into a sort
of Indian rubber, and this has been thought to give tenacity to the
filament spun by the silkworm.

The juice of Mulberries contains malic and citric acids, with
glucose, pectin, and gum. The bark of the root has been given to
expel tapeworm; and the fruit is remarkable for its large quantity of
sugar, being excelled in this respect only by the fig, the grape, and
the cherry.

We are told in _Ivanhoe_ that the Saxons made a favourite drink,
"Morat," from the juice of Mulberries [359] with honey. During the
thirteenth century these berries were sometimes called "pynes."

In the memorable narrative of the Old Testament, 2 _Samuel_, v.,
24, "When thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the
Mulberry trees," the word used (_bekhaim_) has been mistranslated,
really intending the Aspen (_Populus tremula_).

MULLEIN.

The great Mullein (_Verbascum thapsus_) grows freely in England
on dry banks and waste places, but somewhat sparingly in Scotland.
It belongs to the scrofula-curing order of plants, having a thick
stalk, from eighteen inches to four feet high, with large woolly
mucilaginous leaves, and with a long flower-spike bearing plain
yellow flowers, which are nearly sessile on the stem. The name
"Molayne" is derived from the Latin, _mollis_, soft.

In most parts of Ireland, besides growing wild, it is carefully
cultivated in gardens, because of a steady demand for the plant by
sufferers from pulmonary consumption. Constantly in Irish
newspapers there are advertisements offering it for sale, and it can
be had from all the leading local druggists. The leaves are best when
gathered in the late summer, just before the plant flowers. The old
Irish method of administering Mullein is to put an ounce of the
dried leaves, or a corresponding quantity of the fresh ones, in a pint
of milk, which is boiled for ten minutes, and then strained. This is
afterwards given warm to the patient twice a day, with or without
sugar. The taste of the decoction is bland, mucilaginous, and
cordial. Dr. Quinlan, of Dublin, treated many cases of tubercular
lung disease, even when some were far advanced in pulmonary
consumption, with the