BURNET     SANGUISORBA MINOR
A most precious herb, the continual use of it preserves the body in health and the spirit in vigour.
A perennial plant, it is also called Meadow Pimpernel, Sanguisorbia and Solbegrelia, and today Salad Burnet. A short, almost hairless plant; the upper flowers bear red styles, and those below have yellow stamens.
  Where to find it: Dry pastures and well-drained calcareous soils.

Flowering time: Midsummer to early autumn.
  Astrology: A herb the Sun challenges dominion over. If the Sun be the preserver of life under God, his herbs are the best in the world to do it.
  Medicinal virtues. It is a friend to the heart, liver and other principal parts of a man's body. Two or three of the stalks with leaves put into a cup of wine, especially claret, are known to quicken the spirits, refresh and clear the heart and drive away melancholy. It is a special help to defend the heart from noisome vapours and from infection of the pestilence, the juice being taken in some drink. It also has a drying and astringent quality and will staunch inward or outward bleedings, laxes, the bloody flux, and too abundant women's courses, the whites, choleric belchings and castings of the stomach. It is also a singular herb for all sorts of wounds both of the head and body, running cankers and most sores, using either the juice or decoction of the herb or the powder of the herb or root, or the water of the distilled herb, or the ointment by itself.
  Modern uses: The root and herb are used as a diuretic, a stomach tonic and a carminative. An infusion of the whole herb is astringent. A tincture, made from the root, is used to treat infections and inflammation of the throat and upper respiratory tract. The plant is collected for use in May and September. A teaspoonful of the dried powdered herb or root is infused in a cup of boiling water, allowed to cool, strained and swallowed down. One or two cups a day may be taken.

BARBERRY     BERBERIS VULGARIS
The shrub is so well known by every boy and girl that has but attained the age of seven years, that it needs no description.
It is indeed a common garden bush, but also grows wild in Europe and parts of Asia and Africa. It is a large plant with fearsome spiny stems, oval, sharp-toothed leaves and yellow flowers.
Where to find it: Scrubland, copses and hedges.
Flowering time: Late spring, early summer.
Astrology. Mars owns the shrub and presents it to the use of my countrymen to purge their bodies of choler.
Medicinal virtues: The inner rind of the Barberry tree boiled in white wine, and a quarter of a pint (142 ml) drunk every morning, is an excellent remedy to cleanse the body of choleric humours, and free it from such diseases as choler causes, such as scabs, itch, tetters, ringworms, yellow jaundice and biles.
It is excellent for hot agues, burnings, scaldings, heat of the blood, heat of the liver, bloody flux, for the berries are as good as the bark, and more pleasing. They get a man a good stomach to his victuals. The hair washed with the lye made of ashes of the tree and water, will make it turn yellow. The fruit and rind of the shrub, the flowers of Broom and Heath, or Furze, cleanse the body of choler by sympathy, as the flowers, leaves and bark of the Peach tree do by antipathy.
Modern uses: Berberis has antiseptic, tonic and purgative properties. It is used in only small doses. The dosage of the herbal tincture would be no more than a few drops three or four times a day. Herbalists today prescribe it for jaundice, biliousness, diarrhoea, dyspepsia and general liver conditions. It should not be used in pregnancy.

BUTCHER'S BROOM    RUSCUS ACULEATUS
It works no ill effects, yet 1 hope you have wit enough to give the strongest decoction to the strongest bodies.
Its other names are Ruseus, Bruseus, Kneeholm, Knechulver and Pettigree. It is also known as Knee-holly because it has prickly leaves and grows to about the height of a man's knee. The first shoots to sprout from the roots resemble Asparagus, but then they spread and form many branches. The shrub produces a small whitish-green flower and a small, round, green berry which turns red when ripe.
  Where to find it: It grows in copses, on heathland and waste land and often under or near holly bushes.
  Flowering time: Early spring. The berries are ripe in early autumn.
  Astrology: It is a plant of Mars, being of a gallant cleansing and opening quality.
  Medicinal virtues: The decoction of the root made with wine removes obstructions, provokes urine, expels gravel and stone, relieves the strangury and helpeth women's courses. It is also useful for the yellow jaundice and headache. With honey or sugar added, it cleanseth the breast of phlegm and the chest of clammy humours gathered therein.
A poultice made of the berries and leaves is effectual in knitting and consolidating broken bones or parts out of joint. A common way of using it is to boil the root with Parsley, Fennel and Smallage in white wine and drink the decoction, adding a similar quantity of Grass root. The more of the root that is used, the stronger will the decoction be.
  Modern uses: A decoction of the dried root is still recommended in the treatment of jaundice, urinary stones and suppression of menstruation -  1 oz (28 g) of the root to 1& 1/2 Pt (852 ml) of water is used. The water is boiled down to 1 Pt (568 ml) and strained. The dose is two teaspoonfuls three times a day. A tea can be made from 1/2 Oz (14 g) of the fresh root or 1 oz (28 g) of the twigs to 1 pt (568 ml) of boiling water. Dose 2 fl oz (56 rnl). This acts as a diuretic and diaphoretic.

BLACKTHORN (SLOE BUSH)    PRUNUS SPINOSA
The juice expressed from the unripe fruit is a very good remedy for fluxes of the bowels.
This is a bush, also known as Blackthorn, whose tough branches are thorny and form a thick impenetrable barrier. Small white flowers appear before the leaves and these are followed by the fruit, which is the size of a small Damson.
Where to find it: Hedges and woodland.

Flowering time: Early spring.
Astrology: A saturnine plant.
Medicinal virtues: The fruit, or sloe, is chiefly used. It is astringent and binding and therefore good for all kinds of fluxes and haemorrhages. It is serviceable in washes for sore mouth and gums to fasten loose teeth. A handful of the flowers infused makes an easy purge and excellent to dispel windy colic. The bark reduced to powder and taken in doses of two drams (3.5 g) has cured agues.
The juice may be reduced by gentle boiling to a solid consistence, in which state it will keep the year round. This is used for fluxes of the bowels.
Modern uses: Prunus spinosa provides the complete bowel medicine. The flowers are gently laxative and the fruits are binding. The fruits contain vitamin C and are used to make Sloe Gin. The flowers are also diuretic and an infusion - i oz (28 g) to 1 Pt (568 ml) of boiling water - helps urinary tract disease such as cystitis and stones, and also rheumatism and gout. For diarrhea, the fruits are picked just before they are ripe; they are dried and boiled for five to ten minutes and the liquid drunk. Take up to one cupful a day, regulating the dose as necessary.

CARDUUS BENEDICTUS
CNICUS BENEDICTUS (= CARBENIA BENEDICTA)
Everyone who can write at all may describe them from his own knowledge.
Better known today as Blessed Thistle or Holy Thistle, it is an annual plant growing to a little over a foot (30 cm) with greyish-green leaves, brittle and spiny. The yellow flowerheads are about an inch (25 mm) long.
Where to find it: It grows in coastal regions, but is also cultivated for pharmaceutical purposes.

Flowering time: From early to late summer.
Astrology: A herb of Mars under the sign of Aries.
Medicinal virtues: It helps giddiness. and swimming of the head, or the disease called vertigo. It is an excellent remedy against the yellow jaundice and other infirmities of the gall. It clarifies the blood. Continually drinking the decoction helps red faces, tetters and ring- wornis. It helps the plague, sores, boils and itch, the bitings of mad dogs and venomous beasts. It cureth the French pox, strengthens the memory and cures deafness. It cures melancholy and provokes urine.
Modern uses: Holy Thistle is still an important medicinal herb. It is mainly used as a tonic, but it also produces sweating and is therefore of use in treating fevers. It stimulates menstruation and is helpful for headaches and migraine. Small doses only are given as the herb is emetic. Overdosing can also cause diarrhoea. An infusion is made from the whole herb - 1 OZ (28 g) to I Pt (568 mi) of boiling water - and administered in doses of 2 fl Oz (56 mi). Where there is inflammation, the remedy is used in combination with Elderflowers, and Peppermint with a small amount of Ginger or Capsicum. The cold infusion is best for dyspepsia or anorexia, while the warm infusion is best for colds, fevers and backache. Homeopaths use a tincture to treat arthritis.

CHAMOMILE
CHAMAEMELUM NOBILE (= ANTHEMIS NOBILIS)
A stone that hash been taken out of the body of a man being wrapped in Chamomile, will in time dissolve, and in a little time, too.
The Common or Roman Chamomile is a low-growing creeping or trailing plant bearing perfumed flowers with yellow centres and white florets rather like a Daisy.
Where to find it: It grows practically everywhere, but it prefers dry sandy soils and grassland. Flowering time. From midsummer to early autumn.
Astrology.. The Egyptians dedicated it to the Sun because it cured agues. They were like enough to do that for they were the arrantest apes in their religion 1 ever read of.
Medicinal virtues: A decoction of Chamomile takes away stitches and pains in the side. The flowers beaten and made into balls with oil drive away all sorts of agues. If the one grieved be anointed with that oil from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot and afterward laid to bed, he will sweat well. It is profitable for melancholy or for an inflammation of the bowels and there is nothing more profitable than to apply it to the sides and region of the liver and spleen.
Bathing with a decoction of Chamomile taketh away weariness and easeth pains, particularly of the colic and stone and torments of the belly. It gently provoketh urine.
The syrup made of the juice with the flowers in white wine is a remedy against the jaundice and dropsy. The flowers boiled in Ice are good to wash the head and comfort both it and the brain. The oil made from the flowers is much used against all hard swellings, pains or aches, shrinking of the sinews and cramps or pains in the joints or any other part of the body.
Modern uses: Chamomile has been used all down the ages and does not look like falling from favour. It plays an important part in modern herbal practice. The infusion is excellent for migraine and headache due to gastric disturbances. It will also regulate the menstrual periods.
It makes an ideal general tonic for children. It lowers nervous excitability and is useful to relieve toothache, earache and neuralgia if taken internally or used as a poultice. The infusion of the flowers is taken in doses up to 2 fl oz (56 ml) three times a day. A tincture is suitable for highly-strung or hyper-sensitive individuals. Oil of Chamomile can be taken, three drops on a lump of sugar, as an alternative to the above.

CARAWAY    CARUM CARVI
Caraway confects, once only dipped in sugar, and a spoonful of   them eaten in the morning  fasting, and as many after each meal, is a most admirable remedy for those that are troubled with wind.
It bears stalks with finely divided leaves, and at the top, tufts of white flowers.
Where to find it: It is a cultivated herb, both in gardens and commercially.
Flowering time: From early to midsummer.
Astrology: This is a mercurial plant.
Medicinal virtues: The seed hath a moderate sharp quality whereby it breaketh the wind and provoketh urine, which also the herb doth. The root makes a better food than Parsnips. It is pleasant and comfortable to the stomach and helpeth digestion.
The seed is conducing to all cold griefs of the head, stomach and bowels, as also the wind in them, and helpeth to sharpen the eyesight. The powdered seed made into a poultice taketh away the black and blue spots of blows and bruises.
The herb itself, or with some of the seed bruised and fried, applied as a hot compress to the lower parts of the belly, easeth colicky pains. The roots eaten like Parsnips strengthen the stomachs of old people.
Modern uses: Caraway, like Anise, Dill and Fennel, is ideal as a children's medicine for flatulence or stomach upset. It also flavours other medicines. The powdered seeds are mostly used and in doses up to half a teaspoonful at a time. The essential oil pressed from the seeds is also used for flatulent dyspepsia, the dose being from one to four drops on sugar. A dose of the powdered seeds can be taken in hot milk when a cold threatens. It forms an ingredient of compound tincture of Cardamom Aromatica, an official medicine.

CALAMINT
CALAMINTHA ASCENDENS (= MELISSA CALAMINTA)
Let not women be too busy with it for it works very violently upon the feminine part.
A small herb, it seldom rises above a foot (3o cm) high with square, hairy and woody stalks. The pale blueish flowers are like those of mints and the plant has a minty aroma.
Where to find it: It grows on heaths and uplands and on dry ground.
Flowering time: Midsummer.
Astrology: A herb of Mercury and a strong one, too, therefore excellent in all afflictions of the brain.
Medicinal virtues: The decoction of the herb bringeth down women's courses and provoketh urine. It is profitable for those that have ruptures or troubled with convulsions or cramps, with shortness of breath, or choleric torrnents and pains in their bellies or stomach. It helpeth those with yellow jaundice and, taken in wine, it stayeth vomiting. It helpeth such as have the leprosy and it hindereth conception in women.
Applied to the buckle-bone, it will by continuance of time spend the humours that causeth the pain of sciatica. The juice dropped into the ears killeth worms in them. The leaves boiled in wine and drank provoke sweat and open obstructions of the liver and spleen. The decoction with some sugar is profitable for those troubled with the overflowing of the gall and that have an old cough or are scarce able to breathe.
Modern uses: The herb is now regarded as an expectorant and is administered as a syrup or decoction. A syrup is made by adding honey or sugar to an infusion or decoction and heating until it thickens, or by adding a fluid extract to syrup made beforehand. A tea made from the dried leaves is helpful in flatulent colic. In this respect it is similar to taking a Mint tea, as the plant contains a camphor-like essential oil. Culpeper's warning should be heeded and, therefore, it should not be taken in pregnancy.

CALENDULA (MARIGOLD)
Calendula officinalis
Common names : Pot Marigold, Mary Gowles, Golds. Calendula has a noteworthy place among our native herbs. It belongs to the plants which are beneficial in cancer and cancerlike growths. It is found in many gardens in the country, sometimes growing wild on wastelands. Since its healing powers have become recognized again and are in demand, it is now met not only in gardens, but also in fields. Calendula reaches a height of 30 to 40 cm. Its flowerheads are bright yellow to orange. Stems and leaves are fleshy and sticky to the touch. There are several varieties with full flowerheads, with dark or light stamens. The medicinal value is the same. Should its flowerheads be closed after 7 o'clock in the morning, it will rain the same day. It was considered a rain indicator in earlier times.
In folk medicine the plant's flowers, stems and leaves are gathered and used. Gathering should occur in bright sunshine, when its healing powers are at their best. It can be picked fresh in the garden well into late autumn, if free from mildew.
Calendula strongly resembles our Arnica but is superior in its healing power. Arnica should only be used under medical supervision, since the tea could do more harm than good to people with heart trouble. On the other hand, Calendula tea can be drunk without worry.
As a blood cleanser, it is a great helper in infectious hepatitis. 1 to 2 cups a day work wonders. Calendula cleanses, stimulates circulation and improves the healing of wounds. A man accidentally put his hand in a circular saw. He had great pain In the wounds, after release from the hospital. I heard about it and told him to use Calendula ointment. He was enthusiastic about the results and told me that the pain, which had cost him many sleepless nights, had disappeared after a short time. His wife now plants Calendula in the garden every year. On a visit, the lady of the house showed me her legs covered with varicose veins. 1 fetched Calendula from her garden and prepared the ointment. The residue 1 put immediately on her legs (the residues can be used 4 to 5 times). She spread the ointment, the thickness of the back of a knife, on a piece of linen and bandaged her legs with it. You will be surprised, when 1 tell you that, 4 weeks later, when she visited me at home, the varicose veins had disappeared. Both legs had nice smooth skin. A nun told me that she saw a woman in the street with especially bad varicose veins and advised her to use Calendula ointment. Great Was her surprise when, after a month, the same woman joyfully showed her her legs, smooth and free of varicose veins.
The ointment brings swift relief in phlebitis, varicose ulcers, fistulas, frost bites and burns. Use the ointment and also the residue of ointment preparations for ulcers on the breast, even if they are malignant. An acquaintance of mine had to have her breast removed. While she was in hospital, 1 prepared Calendula ointment. Later she used it on her huge wound from the operation, whereby the great tension of the wound was quickly eliminated. In a check-up her scars from the operation, compared to the scars of other patients, showed such a beautiful heal that she needed only part of the prescribed ray treatment., The Calendula ointment is also excellent for Athlete's foot. Many letters 1 have received bear this out, especially in cases where all other remedies were of no avail. A decoction of the fresh herb can also be used with success. Should fungus infestation start around the area of the genitals, bathe the affected area or use sitz baths. Take 50 gm. dried or 2 heaped double handfuls of fresh Calendula per sitz bath. A woman from Stuttgart wrote that her husband had suffered from Athlete's foot and what had they not tried ... baths, ointments, powders, none showed results. Then he tried Calendula ointment. After 8 days the open parts had healed and stayed that way. Besides the ointment, a Calendula tincture (see "directions") should be prepared. This tincture diluted with boiled water is especially suited as a com- press for wounds, contusions, bruises and sprains, even for festering or cancer-like sores, bedsores, ulcers and swellings.
Not only does the Abbe Kneipp believe in Calendula as a natural remedy for malignant growth, but also well known physicians like Dr. StAger, Dr. Bohn, Dr. Halenser and others. Dr. Bohn names the Calendula as the most important remedy in cancer illnesses if it is too late for an operation and recommends the daily drinking of Calendula tea for a prolonged period. The freshly pressed juice of Calendula can be used successfully even in cancer of the skin. Strawberry marks, covered with the fresh juice several times a day for a prolonged period, can be made to disappear; the same goes for pigment spots and brown spots on elderly people, also rough, cancerlike skin patches. In recent times the American physician and scientist Dr. Drwey points out the unique healing quality of Calendula in cancer; he was able to note good success with Calendula. Internally, Calendula as a tea, is used for gastro-intestinal disorders, stomach cramps and stomach ulcers, as well as inflammation of the large intestine, dropsy and blood in the urine. It is excellent for virus infections and bacteria in the urine. What wonderful results the use of the tea of fresh Calendula has is noted in a letter a physician sent to me: "A small 21/2 year old girl became very sick after repeated polio inoculations. She had chronic diarrhorea, loss of weight, visual weakness and difficulties with food. In a clinical checkup, paratyphoid fever was diagnosed and the child was therefore under clinical supervision. One week after drinking tea, made of fresh Calendula flowers and some homoeopathic medicines, the child was substantially better. The examination for typhoid bacillus, carried out three times shortly afterwards, was negative for the first time."
Since Calendula is also beneficial for infectious hepatitis, it is an excellent remedy in disorders of the liver. Flowers, leaves and stems are brewed with boiling water. The tea should not be sweetened. For the above mentioned disorders drink 3 to 4 cups a day, about a tablespoonful every quarter of an hour. A tea made from 1 tablespoon of flowers to 1/4 litre of water will expel wor m s. The juice of the fresh stem gets rid of warts and scabies, the boiled infusion heals herpes and glandular swellings, if the affected parts are bathed in it. The tea, drunk regularly purifies the blood. The eyes, bathed with an eye bath of the lukewarm tea, are strengthened.
Cancerlike ulcers and growths, cracked feet, ulcerated legs, thigh ulcers and also malignant, suppurating, non-healing wounds are helped by washing with an infusion of equal parts of Calendula and Horsetail. Use a heaped tablespoon of this blend to 1/2 litre of water.
To stress the unique effect of Calendula tea 1 would like to cite a few more successes. A nurse who suffered from inflammation of the large intestine for eight years, had an appointment with a specialist. She was advised to take the Calendula tea as per my book. For 4 days she sipped 2 cups of Calendula tea during the day. She could hardly believe it when after this short use of Calendula all the complaints were gone.
A nun told me she suffered from diarrhoea. Although she drank Camomile tea, it did not get better. Only after she had used Calendula tea was there an improvement. A nun in Bavaria suffered from Athlete's foot for 15 years and also repeatedly from phlebitis. Through the application of Calendula ointment she experienced finally a healing of her feet. Scabs in the nose can be easily remedied with Calendula ointment. Note: Should there be an aversion to lard, good vegetable fat may be used. A bit of cooking oil is added to the still warm mass, to make the ointment smoother.
DIRECTIONS
Infusion: 1 heaped teaspoon of herbs to 1/4 litre of water.
Sitz bath: Two heaped double handfuls of fresh or 100 gm. of dried herbs for one sitz bath (see General Information "sitz bath").
Washings: 1 heaped tablespoon of herbs to 1/2 litre of water.
Tincture: 1 handful of flowers are macerated in 1 litre of alcohol. Keep in the sun or at about 201 C. = 681 F. for 14 days.
Ointment: 2 heaped double handfuls of Calendula (leaves, stems, flowers) are finely chopped. 500 gm. of lard are heated and the chopped Calendula is added, stirred, the pan re- moved from the stove, covered and left to stand for a day. The next day it is warmed, filtered through a piece of linen and poured into previously prepared clean jars.
Fresh juice: Leaves, stems and flowers are washed and, still wet, put into the juice extractor.

CELANDINE ( The Greater)   CHELIDONIUM MAJUS
One of the best cures for the eyes. When the Sun is in Leo and the Moon in A ries make it into an oil or ointment to anoint the eyes with. The most desperate sore eyes have been cured by this only medicine; is by far better than endangering the eyes by the art of the needle?
A perennial with many tender, round, whitish-green stalks and greater joints than usual as if they were knees. The stalks are brittle and easy to break. The leaves are large, tender and broad, dark blueish-green on top and pale blueish-green underneath, and full of yellow sap.
Where to find it: By old walls, hedges and waysides and in untilled places. Once planted in a garden, especially in a shady place, it will remain there.
Flowering time: All summer long.
Astrology: A herb of the Sun and under the celestial lion.
Medicinal virtues: The herb or root boiled in white wine with a few Aniseeds and drunk will open obstructions of the liver and gall. It helpeth the yellow jaundice, the dropsy and the itch and old sores in the legs and other parts. The juice taken fasting is held to be of singular good use against the pestilence. The distilled water with a little sugar and treacle hath the same effect. Dropped into the eyes the juice cleanseth them from films and cloudiness that darken the sight, but it is best to allay the sharpness of the juice with a little breast-milk.
It causes old, filthy, corroding, creeping ulcers to heal more speedily and the juice applied to tetters, ringworms or other spreading cankers will quickly heal them too. Rubbed often on warts, it will take them away. The herb with the root bruised and bathed in Oil of Chamomile applied to the navel taketh away griping pains in the belly and bowels and all the pains of the mother. Applied to women's breasts, it stayeth the overmuch flowing of the courses.
Modern uses: This plant should not be used for self-medication and is contraindicated in pregnancy. The herb is used by professional herbalists as a cholagogue and hepatic tonic. It purifies the blood, increases urine production, but in overdosage it will purge. The fresh juice is still considered to he an effective application for corns and warts. It is used as an eye lotion to remove film on the eyes. Chewing the root relieves toothache. In treating the liver a few drops of the juice are taken in sweetened water. The infusion produces sweating. It is available in tincture or fluid extract form from herbalists.