"Parvenke is an erbe green of colour, In time of May he bereth blo flour, His stalkes are so feynt and feye That nevermore groweth he heye: On the grounde he rynneth and growe As doth the erbe that _hyth tunhowe_; The lef is thicke, schinende and styf As is the grene Ivy leef: Uniche brod, and nerhand rownde; Men call it the _Ivy of the grounde_." In the _Organic Materia Medica_ of Detroit, U.S.A., 1890, it is stated, "Painters use the Ground Ivy (_Nepeta glechoma_) as a remedy for, and a preventive of lead colic." An infusion is given (the ounce to a pint of boiling water)--one wineglassful for a dose repeatedly. In the relief which it affords as a snuff made from the dried leaves to congestive headache of a passive continued sort, this benefit is most probably due partly to the special titillating aroma of the plant, and partly to the copious defluxion of mucus and tears from the nasal passages, and the eyes. [287] JOHN'S WORT. The wild Saint John's Wort (_Hypericum peiforatum_) is a frequent plant in our woods and hedgebanks, having leaves studded with minute translucent vesicles, which seem to perforate their structure, and which contain a terebinthinate oil of fragrant medicinal virtues. The name _Hypericum_ is derived from the two Greek words, _huper eikon_, "over an apparition," because of its supposed power to exorcise evil spirits, or influences; whence it was also formerly called _Fuga doemoniorum_, "the Devil's Scourge," "the Grace of God," "the Lord God's Wonder Plant." and some other names of a like import, probably too, because found to be of curative use against insanity. Again, it used to be entitled _Hexenkraut_, and "Witch's Herb," on account of its reputed magical powers. Matthiolus said, _Scripsere quidam Hypericum adeo odisse doemones, ut ejus suffitu statim avolent_, "Certain writers have said that the St. John's Wort is so detested by evil spirits that they fly off at a whiff of its odour." Further names of the herb are "Amber," "Hundred Holes," and _Sol terrestris_, the "Terrestrial Sun," because it was believed that all the spirits of darkness vanish in its presence, as at the rising of the sun. For children troubled with incontinence of urine at night, and who wet their beds, an infusion, or tea, of the St. John's Wort is an admirable preventive medicine, which will stop this untoward infirmity.