Camomile

“ Common Pellitory is a very common plant, and will not be kept in our gardens without diligent looking to. The root goes down right into the ground bearing leaves, being long and finely cut upon the stalk, lying on the ground, much larger than the leaves of the Camomile are. At the top it bears one single large flower at a place, having a border of many leaves, white on the upper side, and reddish underneath, with a yellow thrum in the middle, not standing so close as that of Camomile. ”

“ How the Doctor's [3] brow should smile
Crowned with wreaths of camomile. ”

“ They either eat it raw in salads, boiled in ragouts, fried with roast meat, or as a pickle. It is a wholesome vegetable which seldom disagrees with the stomach.
SUPERFLUA.
215. CAMOMILE (Anthemis nobilis) is a well-known plant, the dried daisy-like flowers of which are frequently used in medicine.
The principal use to which camomile flowers are applied is to excite vomiting, and promote the {200}operation of emetics. They have likewise occasionally been substituted for Peruvian bark, in the case of intermittent fevers or agues, particularly on the Continent, but not with much success ”

“ Thyme is propagated by seed, by taking up rooted side-shoots, or by cuttings taken in the spring. It thrives best in a light, rich earth, and should be occasionally watered till well rooted.
There are two varieties of Camomile, the single and the double-flowered; the first is the most valuable in medicine, but the second is the most commonly met with. ”

“ It is profitable for all sorts of agues that come either from phlegm, or melancholy, or from an inflammation of the bowels, being applied when the humours causing them shall be concocted; and there is nothing more profitable to the sides and region of the liver and spleen than it. The bathing with a decoction of Camomile takes away weariness, eases pains, to what part of the body soever they be applied. ”

“ The flowers of the camomile are tonic, slightly anodyne, antispasmodic, and emetic.
They are
used externally
as fomentations, in colic, faceache, and tumours, and to unhealthy ulcers.
They are
used internally
in the form of infusion, with carbonate of soda, ginger, and other stomachic remedies, in dyspepsia, flatulent colic, debility following dysentery and gout. Warm infusion of the flowers acts as an emetic; and the powdered flowers are sometimes combined with opium or kino, and given in intermittent fevers. ”

“ Outwardly taken to expel winds, are oils, as of camomile, rue, bays, &c.; fomentations of the hypochondries, with the decoctions of dill, pennyroyal, rue, bay leaves, cumin, &c., bags of camomile flowers, aniseed, cumin, bays, rue, wormwood, ointments of the oil of spikenard, wormwood, rue, &c. [4409] Areteus prescribes cataplasms of camomile flowers, fennel, aniseeds, cumin, rosemary, wormwood-leaves, &c. ”

“ You may remove them from the body by killing them, and you may kill them principally by using bitter remedies. When both the treatment of the fever and of the worms is common, the simple remedies will be proper. Wherefore the patients must first drink a decoction of camomile, and of the fruit of the sebesten plum, or these medicines themselves may be given boiled. We may also give the juice of endive, or coriander seed, triturated with hot water or with oxycrate ”

“ Where as the leves grow in litle tuftes upon the over partes of the braunches.... Pennyroyal groweth much, without any setting, besyd hundsley [Hounslow] upon the heth beside a watery place.”
[Pg 88] Of camomile he writes: “It hath floures wonderfully shynynge yellow and resemblynge the appell of an eye ... the herbe may be called in English, golden floure. It will restore a man to hys color shortly yf a man after the longe use of the bathe drynke of it after he is come forthe oute of the bath. ”

“ We can also confirm the statement that no alkaloid is present.
Uses—An infusion or an extract of chamomile is often used as a bitter stomachic and tonic.
Adulteration and Substitution—The flowerheads of Matricaria Chamomilla L., designated in Germany Common Chamomiles (gemeine Kamillen) , are sometimes asked for in this country. In aspect as well as in odour, they are very different from the chamomiles of English pharmacy; they are quite single, not bitter, and have the receptacle devoid of scales and hollow. ”

“ Yet if one had only to look at the stomach, which is, after all, the distinctive characteristic of the order, camels and llamas would stand in the first rank as ruminants. Besides the usual character of four stomachs, their paunch and honeycomb-bag are furnished with large cells which act as reservoirs, and fill with water whenever the animal has the chance of drinking freely, and from whence in time of drought he draws it up into his mouth and swallows it. This is what makes the camel so valuable to the wandering tribes in the great deserts of Africa and Asia. ”

“ The flowers, or "blows" of the Chamomile belong to the daisy genus, having an outer fringe of white ray florets, with a central yellow disk, in which lies the chief medicinal virtue of the plant. In the cultivated Chamomile the white petals increase, while the yellow centre diminishes; thus it is that the curative properties of the wild Chamomile are the more powerful. The true Chamomile is to be distinguished from the bitter Chamomile (matricaria chamomilla) which has weaker properties, and grows erect, with several flowers at a level on the same stalk. ”

“ This oil made into pills with bread crumbs, and given whilst fasting two hours before a meal, will effectually dispel intestinal worms. True Chamomile flowers may be known from spurious ones (of the Feverfew) which have no bracts on the receptacle when the florets are removed.
It is remarkable that each Chamomile is a plant Physician, as nothing contributes so much to the health of a garden as a number of Chamomile herbs dispersed about it. Singularly enough, if another plant is drooping, and apparently dying, in nine cases out of ten it will recover if you place a herb of Chamomile near it. ”

“ Camomill is put to divers and sundry uses both for pleasure and profit; both for inward and outward diseases, both for the sick and the sound, in bathings to comfort and strengthen the sound and to ease pains in the diseased. The flowers boiled in posset drink provoketh sweat and helpeth to expel colds, aches and other griefs. A syrup made of the juice of the double Camomill with the flowers and white wine is used by some against jaundice and dropsy. ”

“ To protect the camel against the shifting sands and the burning heat of the sun, nature has further fitted it for its peculiar home and life. It has the power to close its nostrils at will to keep out the sand. Long lashes protect its eyes, not only from the storms of wind and sand, but also from the glare and the heat.
From time immemorial the camel has been known as the beast of burden in India, Arabia, and Africa. This species, the one-humped camel, or dromedary, differs somewhat from that having two humps. The latter has been found in Central Asia, Persia, and the south of Russia. ”

“ The most fatal plant is a creeper, very succulent, and so beautifully green that its dense foliage is most attractive to the stupid victim. The stomach of the camel is very subject to inflammation, which is rapidly fatal. I have frequently seen them, after several days of sharp desert marching, arrive in good pasture, and die, within a few hours, of inflammation caused by repletion. It is extraordinary how they can exist upon the driest and apparently most innutritious food. ”

“ In a few minutes we were in our old seats again, cutting our path through the sand and jolting over large blocks of stone.
"There is another skeleton, papa," cried Hugh, pointing to the whitened ribs of a camel. "Do they leave the camels to die, and take no trouble to bury them or do anything with them?"
"Most likely this camel was unable to travel farther," his father said, "either from fatigue or old age, and so was left behind by his owner to die. The hot wind and the sun together have bleached his bones. But the skin and hair of the dead camel are both used by the people of the desert. ”

“ Nature has implanted in most animals an instinctive knowledge of the plants suitable for food, and they generally avoid those that are poisonous: but the camel will eat indiscriminately anything that is green; and if in a country where the plant exists that is well known by the Arabs as the "camel poison," watchers must always accompany the animals while grazing. ”

“ Here the camel drivers were busy, all the evening, preparing muzzles for the camels, to prevent them eating the Driâs, with which the country between here and Cyrene is covered. Most authors consider this plant to be the old Silphium, though its medicinal virtues are forgotten, and it is only known as the dreaded poison which threatens the lives of camels which are not reared in this tract of country. It is from no partiality for its flavour that they eat it, for they refuse it when offered to them. They crop it as they pass along, tempted by the long stem, which brings it so near their noses. ”

“ Finding, therefore, the camels would not rise, we killed two of them, and took so much flesh as might serve for the deficiency of bread, and, from the stomach of each of the camels, got about four gallons of water, which the Bishareen Arab managed with great dexterity. It is known to people conversant with natural history, that the camel has within him reservoirs in which he can preserve drink for any number of days he is used to. ”

“ Minute oil-glands are sparingly scattered over the tubular portion of the florets of either kind. The flowers of chamomile, as well as the green parts of the plant, have a strong aroma, and a very bitter taste.
In trade, dried chamomile flowers are esteemed in proportion as they are of large size, very double, and of a good white—the last named quality being due in great measure to fine dry weather during the flowering period. Flowers that are buff or brownish, or only partially double, command a lower price.
Chemical Composition—Chamomile flowers yield from 0·6 to 0·8 per cent. ”

“ Though we generally attach the term ‘camel’ to that species of the camelus found in India, where great numbers are bred by persons who make a very large profit from their labors, the animal under consideration, having but one hump, or bunch, on its back, should, properly, be called a ‘dromedary.’ Whatever may be the true designation, the utility of the animal in a climate, and on a soil, to which it is so admirably suited by nature, is indisputable ”

“ Thus one man will refuse to stamp his name upon his pipe-bowls because it bears one of the names of the Prophet, which will thus be made to pass through the fire. Another man, less scrupulous, is blamed because he has branded his name, which is also a sacred name, on certain camels and horses. The sin thus committed is threefold: first, the iron brand is put in the fire, which is horrible sacrilege; secondly, it is applied to the neck of the camel, causing blood to flow and pollute the sacred name; thirdly, the camel is certain some day, in lying down, to rest his neck on something unclean. ”

“ Phillipps and F. James went off to Amadeb, to complain to Rasalulu, a deputy of King John of Abyssinia, about our late attack, and endeavour to get their rifles back. Whether they ever succeeded in doing so I don’t know; but I should think probably not.
To-day we lost another camel; this makes the sixth we have lost in the Basé country. A camel is a particularly stupid kind of animal, and does not seem to know what is good for him, or rather, what is bad for him, for he will frequently eat a very poisonous green-looking shrub, called “heikabeet.” ”

“ Now, a camel draws the line at blasphemy, but rejoices in the ordinary oaths and swear-words of every-day life in much the same way as a retriever. There is no animal more susceptible to kindness than a camel; but in a sandy sea of scrub with the blazing sun almost boiling the water, milk-like from zinc, in the tanks, loads dragged this way and that, boilers and pipes of condensers rolling, now forward, now back, eventually to slip clattering down, bearing camel and all to the ground—with these and other trials kindness was not in us. ”

“ Notwithstanding the apparent softness of its feet, the camel can walk upon the most rugged ground, upon sharp flints, or thorns, or roots of trees, without wounding itself. Yet, if too long a journey is continuously imposed upon it, if after a certain march you do not give it a few days’ rest, the outer skin wears off, the flesh is bared, and the blood flows. ”

“ The spongeous red growth of the ice-plant endures longest and further empurples the hills. This too will dry up and the bones of the limestone reappear. Then all will be quiet till the first winter rain, when the camels will be driven out to surface-plough. A rectangle is outlined on the soil and scattered with seed barley. Then the camel will shuffle up and down dragging after him a wooden plough that looks like a half-open penknife, and the Bedouin, guiding it, will sing tunes to the camel that he can only sing to the camel, because in his mind the tune and the camel are the same thing. ”

“ It is an interesting fact that, although the camel can readily be transplanted to many other parts of the world, where the physiographic conditions are similar to those of the realm where he has served man so well, he has never been thoroughly successful except in the regions where he has been in use for ages. In the desert regions of the Cordilleras of America, in South Africa, and in Australia, various experiments go to show that the creature could be perfectly reconciled to its environment. ”