Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
254
"Nettle
out,
dock
in--
Dock
remove
the
nettle-sting,"
Of
which
there
are
several
versions;
as
in
Wiltshire,
where
the
child
uses
this
formula:--
"Out
'ettle
In
dock.
Dock
shall
ha'a
a
new
smock,
'Ettle
zbant
Ha'
nanun."
The
young
tops
of
the
common
nettle
are
still
made
by
the
peasantry
into
nettle-broth,
and,
amongst
other
directions
enjoined
in
an
old
Scotch
rhyme,
it
is
to
be
cut
in
the
month
of
June,
"ere
it's
in
the
blume":--
"Cou'
it
by
the
auld
wa's,
Cou'
it
where
the
sun
ne'er
fa'
Stoo
it
when
the
day
daws,
Cou'
the
nettle
early."
The
juice
of
fumitory
is
said
to
clear
the
sight,
and
the
kennel-wort
was
once
a
popular
specific
for
the
king's-evil.
As
disinfectants,
wormwood
and
rue
were
much
in
demand;
and
hence
Tusser
says:--
"What
savour
is
better,
if
physicke
be
true,
For
places
infected,
than
wormwood
and
rue?"
For
depression,
thyme
was
recommended,
and
a
Manx
preservative
against
all
kinds
of
infectious
diseases
is
ragwort.
The
illustrations
we
have
given
above
show
in
how
many
ways
plants
have
been
in
demand
as
popular
curatives.
And
although
an
immense
amount
of
superstition
has
been
interwoven
with
folk-medicine,
there
is
a
certain
amount
of
truth
in
the
many
remedies
which
for
centuries
have
been,
with
more
or
less
success,
employed
by
the
peasantry,
both
at
home
and
abroad.
Footnotes:
1.
See
Tylor's
"Primitive
Culture,"
ii.
2.
See
Folkard's
"Plant-lore
Legends
and
Lyrics,"
p.
164.
3.
"Mystic
Trees
and
Shrubs,"
p.
717.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
