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CLARY SALVIA SCLAREA It is a usual course with many men, when they have got the running of the reins, or women the whites, to run to the bush of Clary , exclaiming - Maid, bring hither the ftying pan, and fetch me some butter quickly. Then they will eat friend Clary just as hogs eat acorns, and this they think will cure their disease ,forsooth! Whereas, when they have devoured as much Clary as will grow upon an acre of ground, their backs are as much the better as though they had never touched it - nay, perhaps, very much worse. The ordinary Garden Clary has four-square stalks with broad, roug wrinkled, whitish-green leaves with a strong sweet scent. The flowers are like those of Sage, but smaller and whitish-blue. Where to find it: A garden herb. It is seldom seen unless it is sown, although there is a wild sort. Flowering time: The seed is ripe in late summer. Astrology. It is under the dominion of the Moon. Medicinal virtues: The seeds beaten to powder and drunk with wine is an admirable help to provoke lust. A decoction of the leaves warms the stomach, helps digestion and scatters congealed blood in any part of the body. The distilled water cleanseth the eyes of redness, waterishness and heat. For dirnness of sight take one of its seeds, put it into the eye and let it remain until it drops out of itself. The pain will be nothing to speak of. It will cleanse the eyes and in oft repeating it, will take off a film which covereth the sight - a handsome,. safer and easier remedy than to tear it off with a needle. Modern uses: Both the Wild and the Garden Clary are members of the Sage family. Their properties are similar, but the wild variety is considered to he more potent. The seed is mucilaginous, and some herbalists use the rnucilage to sooth the eye. |
