Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Milk-wort

MILK-WORT, the Common, or Polygala vulgaris, L. an indigenous perennial plant, thriving on heaths and dry pastures; flowering in the months of June and July.—This herb is eaten by cows, the milk of which it remarkably increases; also by goats and sheep, but is refused by hogs.—Its roots possess an extremely bitter taste, together with all the virtues of the American rattlesnake-root.—According to Du Hamel, it is given with success in pleuritic cases, operating as a purgative, emetic, and diuretic. A spoonful of the decoction, made by boiling an ounce of the herb in a pint of water, till one half be evaporated, sensibly promotes perspiration as well as expectoration, and has therefore been used with advantage in catarrhal fevers and defluxions on the lungs:—three spoonfuls of this medicine, taken every hour, have sometimes afforded considerable relief in dropsical cases.