Simples

One Englishwoman, Mrs. M. Grieve, has made herself her country's great grower of herbs and other simples. Another woman, Mrs. Carl Frederick Leyel, has made herself Britain's greatest advocate of herbal medicine. Last week the two published the U. S. edition of their two-volume Modern Herbal* It is compendium of their joint knowledge "the medicinal, culinary, cosmetic economic properties, cultivation and folklore of herbs, grasses, fungi, shrubs trees with all their modern scientific uses." It purports to be the first comprehensive medicinal herbal since the time of Nicholas Culpeper (1616-54), Stuart sir and astrologer. It may bother U. S. Medicine as it bothers English Medicine.

The modern practice of medicine plus the modern advertisement of proprietary drugs has almost wiped out the homel use of simple. Nonetheless, a demand persists for senna, henna, pennyroyal, hops, boneset, camomile, sage, tansy, flaxseed, rhubarb, ginger root, fennel seed, aniseed, saffron, viburnum.

Mistresses Grieve & Leyel in their 888 indexed pages try to standardize the preparation of herbs. From the medical point their recipes are more interesting than authoritative. Some of their items:

"Rotten apples used as a poultice is an old Lincolnshire remedy for sore eyes is still used in some villages."

"Slippery elm drink, prepared as for coughs, is recommended in typhoid fever"

To carry a raw potato in the in the pocket was an old-fashioned remedy against rheumatism that modern research has proven to have a scientific [sic] basis."/-

"Sage and onion stuffing for ducks, geese and pork enables the stomach to digest the rich food."

The revival of herbalism, of which the Modern Herbal is expensive evident been due partly to accident, par propaganda. During the War there was insistent demand for pharmaceutical plants. Mrs. Grieve had been growing some in her Buckinghamshire gardens. She enlarged the plots, trained pupils drying of herbs and their preparation market. Mrs. Leyel, who would have studied medicine if her first lesson in dissection had not repelled her, had long experimented with plants for cooking and scent blending. An energetic woman, she has written previous books on the herbal art, founded the Society of Herbalists, established Culpeper House in London as herbalist headquarters and salesroom. Mrs. Leyel has a rural home near Bognor, Sussex, where King George convalesced from his chest ailments. At Bognor, it is said, certain of the Grieve-Leyel made their way into the royal dishes if not into the royal medicines.

From herbs as medicines Mrs. Leyel has developed a goodly business, wich Modern Herbal may extend from England to the U. S. In a catalog fortified with testimonials she advertises, for example:

"Culpeper Tonsilitis Pill. The herbs of which this pill is composed act directly on the glands and tonsils and have been the means of preventing the necessity removal of tonsils. Price 2/6."**

"Culpeper Pyorrhoea Cure. This is an absolute cure for pyorrhoea. Simple to use. Price 2/6."

"Slim, the Safe and Sure Cure for Obesity. . . . The results are quite extraordinary."

* Harcourt, Brace ($15).

/-A famed potato toter: Secretary of Labor William Nuckles Doak.

**2 shillings, 6 pence, at par 60c.

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