rectified spirit of wine tastes extremely
pleasant.

407. VERBENA officinalis. COMMON WILD VERVAIN. The Leaves and Root.--
This is one of the medicines which we owe to the superstition of former
ages; the virtue it has been celebrated for is as an amulet, on which a
pamphlet was some years ago published. It was recommended to wear the
root by a ribband tied round the neck for the cure of the scrophula, and
for which purpose, even now, much of the root is sold in London. As the
age of superstition is passing by, it will be needless to say more on
the subject at present.

408. VERONICA officinalis. MALE SPEEDWELL. The Leaves.--Hoffman and Joh.
Francus have written express treatises on this plant, recommending
infusions of it, drunk in the form of tea, as very salubrious in many
disorders, particularly those of the breast.

* * * * *

Observations on the Drying and Preserving of Herbs, &c. for Medicinal
Purposes.

The student who has paid attention to the subject described in the
foregoing sections, will be struck with the admirable contrivance of
Divine Wisdom; that has caused such astringent substances as are
contained in the oak and Peruvian bark, to be produced from the same
soil, and in a similar way to those mucilaginous and laxative ones which
we find in the juice of the marsh-mallow, and the olive oil. It is not
intended in this small elementary work to enter into any investigation
of the primitive parts of the vegetable creation, or how such different
particles are secreted. It may therefore suffice, that, although the
science of vegetable physiology admits of many very beautiful and
instructing illustrations, yet they only go so far as to prove to us,
that the first and grand principle of vegetable life and existence, as
well as of the formation of all organic substances, consists in a system
of attraction and combination of the different particles of nature, as
they exist and are imbibed from the soil and the surrounding atmosphere.
Thus, during their existence, we observe a continual series of
aggregation of substance; but no sooner does the principle of life
become extinct, than the agents of decomposition are at work, dividing
and selecting each different substance, and carrying it back from whence
it came:--"From dust thou comest, and to dust thou shalt return." This,
therefore, seems to be the sum total of existence; the explanation of
which, with all its in