PARSLEY.

Apium Petroselinon. The roots are the part generally used in medicine.

A strong decoction of them is good against jaundice. It operates powerfully by urine, and it expels wind. It gently opens the body, and removes obstructions of the liver and spleen. Galen recommended it in falling sickness, and in obstructed menstruation. The seeds are also powerful. The distilled water of Parsley is a good medicine to give children troubled with wind in the stomach or bowels. The leaves of Parsley mixed with meal and applied to inflamed eyes greatly relieves them, and fried with butter and applied to hard breasts, greatly relieves and mollifies them.

Tragus gives the following medicine for jaundice, falling sick­ness, dropsy, and stone in the kidneys; seed of Parsley, Fennel Annise, and Carraways, of each an ounce; roots of Parsley, Burnet, Saxifrage and Carraways, of each an ounce and a half; bruise the seeds, wash the roots and cut small; all night steep in a bottle of white wine, and in the morning boil in a close earthen vessel, until a third part be wasted; which being strained, take four ounces morning and evening, abstaining from drink after it for three hours.