Also from four to ten drops of the tincture may be administered with a tablespoonful of cold water, two or three times a day, for several consecutive weeks, to a consumptive adult, in the early stages of this disease. Dr. Hughes (Brighton) has employed a diluted tincture of the Sundew (one part of this tincture admixed with nine parts of spirit of wine) in doses of from three to five drops with water, to a child of from three to eight years of age, for spasmodic whooping-cough, several times in the day, with marked success; whilst a larger dose or the stronger tincture served only to increase the cough in violence and frequency. The same results may perhaps follow too strong or full a dose to a consumptive patient, so that it must be regulated by the effects produced. Externally, the juice [546] of the fresh Sundew has been used for destroying warts.
SUNFLOWER.
The Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) which is so popular and brilliant an ornament of cottage gardens throughout England in summer and autumn, is an importation of long standing, and has been called the Marigold of Peru.
Its general nature and appearance are so well known as scarcely to need any description. The plant is of the Composite order, indigenous to tropical America, but flourishing well in this country, whilst bearing the name of Heli-anthus (Sunflower), and smelling of turpentine when the disc of the flower is broken across.
The growing herb is highly useful for drying damp soils, because of its remarkable power of absorbing water; for which reason several acres of Sunflowers are now planted in the Thames Valley. Swampy districts in Holland have been made habitable by an extensive culture of the Sunflower, the malarial miasmata being absorbed and nullified, whilst pure oxygen is emitted abundantly.
An old rhyme declares, for some unknown reason:—
"The full Sunflower blew
And became a starre of Bartholomew."
The name Sunflower has been given as most persons think because the flowers follow the sun by day turning always towards its shining face. But Gerard says, about this alleged fact, he never could observe it to happen, though he spared no pains to observe the matter; he rather thought the flower to have got its title because resembling the radiant beams of the sun. Likewise, [547] some have called it Corona Solis, and Sol Indianus, the Indian Sunne-floure: by others it is termed Chrysanthemum Peruvianum. In Peru this flower was much reverenced because of its resemblance to the radiant sun, which luminary was worshipped there. In their Temples of the Sun the priestesses were crowned with Sunflowers, and wore them in their bosoms, and carried them in their hands. The early Spanish invaders found in these temples numerous representations of the Sunflower wrought in pure virgin gold, the workmanship of which was so exquisite that it far out-valued the precious metal whereof they were made. Some country folk call it "Lady eleven o'clock."
If the buds of the Sunflower before expanding be boiled, and eaten with butter, vinegar and pepper, after the manner of serving the Jerusalem Artichoke, they are exceeding pleasant meat, surpassing the artichoke moreover in provoking the desiderium veneris. The Chinese make their finest yellow dye from the Sunflower, which they worship because resembling the sun.
All parts of the plant contain much carbonate of potash; and the fruit, or seed, furnishes a fixed oil in abundance. The kernels of the seeds contain helianthic acid, and the pith of the plant will yield nine per cent. of carbonate of potash. The oil of the Sunflower may be used as olive oil, and the cake after expressing away this oil makes a good food for cattle. A medicinal tincture (H.) is prepared from the seed with rectified spirit of wine; also from the fresh juice with diluted spirit. Each of these serves admirably against intermittent fever and ague, instead of quinine. The Sunflower is adored by the Chinese as the most useful of all vegetables. From its seeds the best oil is [548] extracted, and an excellent soap is made. This oil burns longer than any other vegetable oil, and Sunflower cake is more fattening to cattle than linseed cake.