180. _PEPPER MINT_ (Mentha piperita) _is a British plant, which grows in watery places, and is cultivated chiefly on account of an oil and distilled water which are prepared from it._ This is the strongest and most aromatic of all the mints; and, on this account, is more used in medicine than any other species. When distilled with water it yields a considerable quantity of essential oil, of pale greenish yellow colour. The well-known liquor called _pepper mint water_, prepared from this plant, is an excellent stomachic: but is too often used in cases of impaired appetite, and for the relief of various imaginary complaints. ANGIOSPERMIA. 181. _The FOX-GLOVE_ (Digitalis purpurea) _is a stately British plant, with long, erect spikes of large, purple, and somewhat bell-shaped flowers, marked internally with dark spots in whitish rings, and containing four stamens, with large yellow anthers._ _The calyx, or flower-cup, has five pointed divisions. The extremity of the blossom is divided into five segments; and the seed-vessel is egg-shaped, and contains many seeds. The leaves are large, wrinkled, and somewhat downy beneath._ The gravelly or sandy hedge-banks or hills of all the midland counties of England are adorned, in the later months of summer, with this, one of the most beautiful, most dangerous, and yet, if properly applied, one of the most useful of all our wild plants. For its medicinal virtues it has long been esteemed. The Italians have an adage which implies that "the fox-glove heals all sores:" hence it is said, that they apply the bruised leaves, and the juice of the leaves, in the healing of different kinds of wounds, and particularly for the removal of scrophulous swellings. The _juice_ of this plant has a bitter and nauseous taste; and, when taken internally, acts violently on the stomach and bowels, and brings on stupor and drowsiness; notwithstanding which, in careful hands, it may be rendered a valuable medicine in dropsy, consumption, and epilepsy. It is given in powder, tincture, and infusion of the dried leaves; and such is its strength, that Dr. Woodville states, the dose of the dried leaves, in powder, should not exceed from one to three grains per day. 182. _The CALABASH-TREE_ (Crescentia cujeta) _is a production of the West Indies and America, about the height and dimensions if an apple-tree, with crooked horizontal branches, wedge-shaped leaves, pale white flowers on the trunk and branches, and a roundish fruit, from two inches to a foot in diameter._