Family Herbal - Electric Scotland

APPENDIX. 373
of which little mention has been made here, be-
cause the attention has not been turned upon novel-
ty, but use, being found to belong'
to a kind of milkwort,
or
polygala. The roots of the common
milkwort of our pastures being tried, have been
found to
possess the same virtues, though in a
less degree. This plant would not have been re-
garded,
the same kind ;
if the other had not been found to be of
but to that we owe the knowledge of
its virtues.
There is a great reason for seeking in our own
climate, plants of the same nature, and form, and
kind, with those which in other countries afford
us remedies ; that they are generally of the same
kind, and may be litter for our constitutions. This
is certain, that as the sun ripens the juices of plants in
so it
hotter countries to mere virtue than with us,
make men's constitutions more able to bear their
effects.
The Chinese will swallow such doses as are
poison to one of us. This we know in many instances,
and it ought to encourage us in the present
research ; because, it the same doses which
agree with them, are too much for us ; we may
also find, that other medicines, of the same kind
of virtues, though in a less degree, may also
be found to agree better with our constitutions.
I would not carry so far as some have done, that
opinion of nature's having provided in every
country the remedies for the diseases of that coun-
is the author of nature, and he know-
try : God
ing there would be commerce knew that
among
would not be necessary.
mankind,
But notwithstanding
that it may be necessary in some
casts, and convenient in manv, for us to have drugs
from abroad, yet in general it will be better for us
to be cured by those herbs we may find at home ;