Transcribed by Ruth Hart ruthhart@twilightoracle.com Transcriber's notes: While most of the book titles and non-English words are italicized, not all of them are, and I have left the non-italicized terms as is. Page numbers have been placed in sqare brackets to facilitate the use of the table of contents and the index. HERBAL SIMPLES APPROVED FOR MODERN USES OF CURE by W. T. FERNIE, M.D. Author of "Botanical Outlines," etc_ Second Edition. "Medicine is mine; what herbs and _Simples_ grow In fields and forests, all their powers I know." DRYDEN. Philadelphia: Boericke & Tafel. 1897. "Jamque aderat Phoebo ante alios dilectus lapis Iasides: acri quondam cui captus amore Ipse suas artes, sua munera, laetus Apollo Augurium, citharamque dabat, celeresque sagittas Ille ut _depositi_ proferret fata _clientis,_ Scire potestates herbarum, usumque medendi Maluit, et mutas agitare inglorius artes." VIRGIL, _AEnid_: Libr. xii. v. 391-8. "And now lapis had appeared, Blest leech! to Phoebus'-self endeared Beyond all men below; On whom the fond, indulgent God His augury had fain bestowed, His lyre-his sounding bow! But he, the further to prolong A fellow creature's span, _The humbler art of Medicine chose, The knowledge of each plant that grows,_ Plying a craft not known to song, An unambitious man!" [vii] PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. It may happen that one or another enquirer taking up this book will ask, to begin with, "What is a Herbal Simple?" The English word "Simple," composed of two Latin words, _Singula plica_ (a single fold), means "Singleness," whether of material or purpose. From primitive times the term "Herbal Simple" has been applied to any homely curative remedy consisting of one ingredient only, and that of a vegetable nature. Many such a native medicine found favour and success with our single-minded forefathers, this being the "reverent simplicity of ancienter times." In our own nursery days, as we now fondly remember, it was: "Simple Simon met a pieman going to the fair; said Simple Simon to the pieman, 'Let me taste your ware.'" That ingenuous youth had but one idea, connected simply with his stomach; and his sole thought was how to devour the contents of the pieman's tin. We venture to hope our readers may be equally eager to stock their minds with the sound knowledge of Herbal Simples which this modest Manual seeks to provide for their use.