Of Leeks

Leeks have been censured as being pernicious aliment, but without reason when they are boiled; for then they agree very well with persons who have thick gross humours, with phlegmatic constitutions, and with old persons. They promote urine, the menses, and sometimes cure barrenness. A syrup made with it, is good to promote expectoration, and is serviceable in the moist asthma.

Of Onions, Shalots, And Chives

Onions are eaten raw by many persons, especially sailors and country people, which makes their breath offensive. This may be avoided by boiling them; for then they lose their acrid taste and smell. They revive a languid appetite, and agree with a stomach that abounds with thick cold clammy humours. They promote urine and the menses, but yield little nourishment. When eaten too freely, they cause thirst, pains in the head, and excite troublesome dreams. They are provocatives, inflame the blood, and are hurtful to bilious constitutions. Shalots have the same effects with onions, though in a letter degree, for they are milder. Chives are of the same nature as the former, but are not so strong. They are sometimes mixt with sallads to quicken their taste. They are not easily digested, for which reason they fill the stomach with wind.

Of Garlick And Rocambole

Garlick is very much used in some nations, while others have it in great abhorrence. It yields very little nourishment, and that not good. It is no way suitable to persons of warm or bilious consti-tutions, but may be allowed to persons of weak stomachs, to help digestion and excite the appetite. Soldiers, sailors, and rusticks are free with it to correct bad aliment. It refills putrefaction, promotes urine, cleanses the kidneys, cures the wind-colic, and kills worms. It promotes expectoration in the moist asthma, and will sometimes carry off the water in a dropsy. The too frequent use of garlick inflames the stomack and bowels, creates thirst, heats the blood, breeds wind, causes the head-ach, and hurts the eyes. The juice is good for burns. Rocambole has the same properties, but weaker.

Of Chervil

Chervil is a sallad herb very agreeable to the smell, palate, and stomach. It is opening, attenuating, and inciding; promotes urine, cleanses the kidneys, brings down the menses, opens obstructions of the bowels, dissolves clotted blood occasioned by falls, heals disorders of the skin, is very useful in chronic diseases, and performs wonders in the dropsy. In these cafes, three or four ounces of the juice must be taken every third or fourth hour.

Of Purslane

Purslane is cooling, cleanses the blood, abates the sharpness of humours in the bread, and is very useful in the hot scurvy. It agrees best with young persons, and those of a hot constitution.

Of Marjoram

Marjoram is an aromatic pot-herb, and is good in diseases of the head and nerves. It disperses wind, and is mixt in cephalic snuffs. It is very heating, and therefore the use of it ought to be sparing. It is good for persons of a phlegmatic or melancholic constitution.