o the triacle by
Andromachus, physician to the emperor Nero.

[41] Tea made of our garden balm, by virtue of the volatile oil,
will prove restorative, and will promote perspiration if taken hot
on the access of a cold or of influenza; also, if used in like manner,
it will help effectively to bring on the delayed monthly flow with
women. But an infusion of the plant made with cold water, acts
better as a remedy for hysterical headache, and as a general
nervine stimulant because the volatile aromatic virtues are not
dispelled by heat. Formerly, a spirit of balm, combined with lemon
peel, nutmeg, and angelica-root, enjoyed a great reputation as a
restorative cordial under the name of Carmelite water. Paracelsus
thought so highly of balm that he believed it would completely
revivify a man, as _primum ens melissoe_. The London Dispensatory
of 1696 said: "The essence of balm given in Canary wine every
morning will renew youth, strengthen the brain, relieve languishing
nature, and prevent baldness." "Balm," adds John Evelyn, "is
sovereign for the brain, strengthening the memory, and powerfully
chasing away melancholy." In France, women bruise the young shoots
of balm, and make them into cakes, with eggs, sugar, and rose
water, which they give to mothers in childbed as a strengthener.

It is fabled that the Jew Ahasuerus (who refused a cup of water to
our Saviour on His way to Golgotha, and was therefore doomed to
wander athirst until Christ should come again) on a Whitsuntide
evening, asked for a draught of small beer at the door of a
Staffordshire cottager who was far advanced in consumption. He
got the drink, and out of gratitude advised the sick man to gather
in the garden three leaves of Balm, and to put them into a cup of
beer. This was to be repeated every fourth day for twelve days, the
refilling of the cup to be continued as often as might be wished;
then "the [42] disease shall be cured and thy body altered." So
saying, the Jew departed and was never seen there again. But the
cottager obeyed the injunction, and at the end of the twelve days
had become a sound man.

BARBERRY.

The Common Barberry (_Berberis_), which gives its name to a
special order of plants, grows wild as a shrub in our English
copses and hedges, particularly about Essex, being so called from
Berberin, a pearl oyster, because the leaves are glossy like the
inside of an oyster shell. It is remarkable for the light colour of its
bark, which