Coles notices six varieties of the pennyroyal; but Miller enumerates only three.

Its qualities are nearly the same as those of other mints, except that, being milder, it is not so efficacious. It has been greatly recommended in dropsies, jaundice, and other chronic distempers.

Pliny tells us, that several physicians met in his chamber to consult on the virtues of this herb, and that they all agreed, that a chaplet of pennyroyal was, without comparison, far better for the giddiness and swimming of the head than one of roses; and that they were of opinion, that if a garland of pennyroyal were worn, it would not only ease the head from pain, but that it would preserve the brain from disorders, which are brought on by either heat or cold.

Xenocrates relates, that pennyroyal wrapped in wool, was given to those to smell who had the ague, and that it was put under the coverings of the beds of those who suffered under that disease.

Dodonæus informs us, that this herb, when fresh and in blossom, will, by its perfume, keep flies out of a room. The same author states, that when necessity obliges us to drink corrupt, stinking, or saltish water, we

may improve it, by throwing into the water either fresh or dried pennyroyal.

Coles makes the same remark; and Gerard

says, "if this herb be dried, and taken to sea, it will purify corrupt water without hurting those who drink of it." He adds that, “pennie royall taken with honie, cleanseth the lungs, and cleareth the breast from all grosse

and thick humours."

This plant, which is very bitter, acrid, and of a penetrating smell, gives a deep tincture of red to blue paper; so that, it is probable, it contains a volatile, aromatic, and oily salt, loaded with acid: whereas, in the artificial, volatile, oily salt, this acid is detained by the salt of tartar. Thus this plant is aperient, hysteric, and good for the diseases of the stomach and breast; since it expels those glutinous sordes which fill part of the bronchia, and vesicles of the lungs, especially if it is boiled with honey and aloes; for then it purges, and procures expectoration.*

* Dioscorides, James.

avit

351

MOSS.-MUSCUS,

AND LIVERWORT, LICHEN.

LINNÆUS arranged these species of vegetables in the twenty-fourth class of his artificial System, under the name of Cryptogamia, which signifies concealed marriages; and it was intended to comprehend all those plants whose fructification is concealed, or at least too minute to be observed by the naked eye.

In the Linnæan system mosses are divided into nine genera: viz. Lycopodium, Porella, Sphagnum, Phascum, Polytricum, Mnium, Hypnum, Fontinalis, and Buxbaumia. As we now reckon more than 360 species of mosses and liverworts, the greater part of which are natives of Britain, their particular description must be reserved for a separate volume; but, as many of the mosses are deserving of more general notice than they have hitherto obtained, we trust that the few pages we shall

offer on this subject will not be thought irrelevant in a history of cultivated vegetables.

Mosses, in general, were originally thought imperfect plants, until the year 1719, when the seed of some of the varieties was discovered; and in 1741 this circumstance was made more extensively known amongst botanists by Dillen Linnæus.

The generic name Muscus is a word that signifies an herb composed of hairs or threads instead of leaves.

"Each moss,

Each shell, each crawling insect, holds a rank
Important in the plan of Him who form'd

This scale of beings; holds a rank, which lost
Would break the chain, and leave a gap

That Nature's self would rue!"

The superficial observer of the works of Nature may pass this species of plants without even knowing that they are as perfectly formed as the roses of the garden, or the more majestic oaks of the forest.

The mosses have roots, flowers, and seeds, like other plants. M. Valmont Bomare says, some think mosses are to vegetables, what flies are to animals, and that the word Mousse in French was derived from the Latin word Musca for fly, which in French is

Mouche. The English name Moss, we conclude, is a corruption of the French word Mousse, as we find that it was formerly spelt Mosse.

Mosses seem to require little other nutriment than a moist atmosphere, and are so tenacious of life, that they will revive and vegetate on receiving moisture, although in appearance quite dead through being dried by heat. They generally seek situations that are shaded from the sun; and although minute, they are extremely beautiful, and many of them of so hardy a nature, that they both blossom and seed during the winter months, when the sap of most other plants is retired or congealed, in which state their vegetation rests, awaiting the reviving and powerful influence of the sun, again to draw it bubbling forth, and as it forces through the pores of branch and bud, it forms its leaves and flowers, which human art cannot imitate, or the mind of man contemplate without acknowledging it to be the work of Him,

"Who only does great wonders."

Mosses, although diminutive, grow rapidly: for nothing in nature is allowed to remain stationary, idle, or useless; nor is there any