Alkanet imparts a fine deep red colour to all unctuous substances, and to spirits of wine; but it tinges water with a dull, brownish hue. Its chief use is for the colouring of oils, plasters, lip-salve, and other similar articles. It is likewise employed in compositions for rubbing, and giving colour to mahogany furniture. Wax tinged with alkanet, and applied to the surface of warm marble, stains it flesh colour, and sinks deep into the stone. 58. _The COWSLIP is a plant_ (Primula veris) _which grows in most meadows and pastures, and is too well known to require any description._ The _flowers_ of the cowslip, when picked and dried, are sometimes used as a balsamic tea. When boiled, with a certain proportion of water and sugar, and afterwards properly fermented, they may be made into a peculiarly pleasant wine. The _roots_ have a fine odour; and, when immersed in ale or beer, are said to add considerably to the strength of the liquor. The _leaves_ are sometimes eaten as a pot-herb, and in salads; and both the leaves and flowers are an excellent food for silk-worms. 59. _BUCK-BEAN, or BOG-BEAN_ (Menyanthes trifoliata), _is a common plant in shallow ponds; and is distinguishable by its leaves growing in threes, and its pink and white flowers being shaggy on their inner surface._ There is no British plant the flowers of which are more beautiful than those of buck-bean; and nothing but the difficulty of propagating it in dry ground could prevent its having a place in every garden. The _leaves_ are intensely bitter, and are occasionally used in the Highlands of Scotland as a tea, to strengthen the stomach. The inhabitants of some parts of Sweden employ them in place of hops, to impart a bitter taste to ale; two ounces of them being considered equal in strength to a pound of hops. By some persons the leaves of buck-bean are smoked instead of tobacco; and different preparations of this plant have been found efficacious as a remedy against agues, and in scorbutic and scrofulous diseases, rheumatisms, and dropsy. There is an opinion that sheep, when compelled to eat of buck-bean, are cured of the rot. In Lapland it is said that the pounded roots, though very unpalatable, are sometimes converted into bread. 60. _SCAMMONY is a concrete or dried juice obtained from the roots of a climbing plant of the convolvulus tribe_ (Convolvulus scammonia, Fig. 7,) _which is cultivated in Asiatic Turkey, Syria, and Persia._ _This plant is known by having arrow-shaped leaves, notched in a particular manner at the base, and each flower-stalk bearing two or three large and somewhat purplish white flowers._