273.  Sisymbrium Nasturtium.  Water-CRESSES.  Herb.  E.-Hoffman recommends this as of singular efficacy for accelerating the circulation, strengthening the viscera, opening obstructions of the glands, promoting the fluid secretions, and purifying the blood and humours:  for these purposes, the expressed juice, which contains the peculiar taste and pungency of the herb, may be taken in doses of an ounce or two, and continued for a considerable time.

274.  Sium nodiflorum.  Creeping water-Parsnep.  The Root.  D.-This plant has not been admitted into the Materia Medica of any of the Pharmacopoeias which we have seen, except that of the London College, into which it was received in the character of an antiscorbutic, or rather as the corrector of acrid humours, especially when manifested by cutaneous eruptions and tumours in the lymphatic system, for which we have the testimony of Beirie and Ray; but the best proofs of its efficacy are the following given by Dr. Withering:  “A young lady, six years old, was cured of an obstinate disease by taking three large spoonfuls of the juice twice-a-day; and I have repeatedly given to adults three or four ounces every morning in similar complaints with the greatest advantage.  It is not nauseous; and children take it readily if mixed with milk.  In the dose I have given, it neither affects the head, the stomach, nor the bowels.”  Woodville’s Med.  Bot. 146.

275.  Smilax Sarsaparilla.  Sarsaparilla.  Root.  L. E. D.—­This root was first brought into Europe by the Spaniards, about the year 1565, with the character of a specific for the cure of the lues venerea, which made its appearance a little before that time, and likewise of several obstinate chronic disorders.  Whatever good effects it might have produced in the warmer climates, it proved unsuccessful in this.  It appears, however, from experience, that though greatly unequal to the character which it bore at first, it is in some cases of considerable use as a sudorific, where more acrid medicines are improper.

276.  Solanum Dulcamara.  Bittersweet.  Stalk.  L. D.—­The taste of the twigs and roots, as the name of the plant expresses, is both bitter and sweet; the bitterness being first perceived, and the sweet afterwards.  They are commended for resolving coagulated blood, and as a cathartic, diuretic, and deobstruent.

277.  Solidago Virga aurea.  Golden Rod.  Flowers and Leaves.  D.—­The leaves have a moderately astringent bitter taste, and hence prove serviceable in debility and laxity of the viscera, and disorders proceeding from that cause.

278.  Spartium scoparium.  Broom.  Tops and Seeds.  L. D.-These have a nauseous bitter taste:  decoctions of them loosen the belly, promote urine, and stand recommended in hydropic cases.  The flowers are said to prove cathartic in decoction, and emetic in substance, though in some places, as Lobel informs us, they are commonly used, and in large quantity, in salads, without producing any effect of this kind.  The qualities of the seeds are little better determined:  some report that they purge almost as strongly as hellebore, in the dose of a dram and a half; whilst the author above mentioned relates, that he has given a decoction of two ounces of them as a gentle emetic.