The family herbal Author:John Hill Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: INTRODUCTION. CoSTAISJNG GENERAL RULES FOR THE GATHERING AND PRESERVING HERBS, ROOTS, BARKS, SEEDS, AND FLOWERS ; TOGETHER WITH THE METHODS OP MAKING SUCH PRE... more »PARATION FROM TJIEM, AS MAY BEST RETAIN THEIR VIRTUES, OR BE MOST USEFUL TO BE KEPT IN FAMILIES. CHAP. I. The design and purpose of this work, and the method observed in it. THE intent of the author in publishing this book, is to inform those who live in the country, and are desirous of being useful to their families and friends, or charitable to the poor in the relief of their disorders, of the virtues of those plants which grow wild about them : that they may be able to supply this necessary assis- tance, in places where apothecaries are not at hand ; and that they may be able also to do it without putting themselves to the expense of medicines f price, when the common herbs, that mav b had for gathering, will answer the same purpose. However, as there are cases, in which more help may be had from drugs brought from abroad than from any thing we can procure at home, an account of those roots, barks, seeds, gums, and other vegetable productions, kept by the druggists and apothecaries, is also added ; and of the several trees and plants from which they are obtained ; together with their virtues This work, therefore, will tend to instruct those charitable ladies who may be desirous of giving this great relief to the affl-cted poor in their neighbourhood, and to remind apothecaries of what they had before studied : but the first mentioned purpose is by much the most useful, and the most considerable, and for this reason the greatest regard is paid to it. The plants are disposed in the alphabet, no cording to their English names, that they may be turned to the more readily ; and an account is given, in tw...« less