morous cups," which few Puritans
dared to meddle with. The blessed thistle, of which one scandalized old
writer says, "I suppose the name was put upon it by them that had little
holiness themselves." Clary, or clear-eye, or Christ's-eye, which latter
name makes the same writer indignantly say, "I could wish from my soul
that blasphemy and ignorance were ceased among physicians"--as if the
poor doctors gave these folk-names! The crab-claws so often mentioned
was also an herb, otherwise known as knight's-pond water and
freshwater-soldier. The mints to flavor were horsemint, spearmint,
peppermint, catmint, and heartmint.

The earliest New England colonists did not discover in the new country
all the herbs and simples of their native land, but the Indian powwows
knew of others that answered every purpose--very healing herbs too, as
Wood in his "New England's Prospects" unwillingly acknowledges and thus
explains: "Sometimes the devill for requitall of their worship recovers
the partie to nuzzle them up inn thier devilish Religion." The planters
sent to England for herbs and drugs, as existing inventories show; and
they planted seeds and soon had plenty of home herbs that grew apace in
every dooryard. The New Haven colony passed a law at an early date to
force the destruction of a "great stinking poisonous weed," which is
said to have been the _Datura stramonium_, a medicinal herb. It had been
brought over by the Jamestown colonists, and had spread miraculously,
and was known as "Jimson" or Jamestown weed.

Josselyn gives in his "New England's Rarities" an interesting list of
the herbs known and used by the colonists. Cotton Mather said the most
useful and favorite medicinal plants were alehoof, garlick, elder, sage,
rue, and saffron. Saffron has never lost its popularity. To this day
"saffern tea" is a standing country dose in New England, especially for
the "jarnders." Elder, rue, and saffron were English herbs that were
made settlers here and carefully cultivated; so also were sage, hyssop,
tansy, wormwood, celandine, comfrey, mallows, mayweed, yarrow,
chamomile, dandelion, shepherd's-purse, bloody dock, elecampane,
motherwort, burdock, plantain, catnip, mint, fennel, and dill--all now
flaunting weeds. Dunton wrote, with praise of a Dr. Bullivant, in
Boston, in 1686, "He does not direct his patients to the East Indies to
look for drugs when they may have far better out of their gardens."

There is a charm in these medica