Note 142 — LETTER I. (continued 2)

Scordium, or water germander, is mentioned in Salmon’s Herbal as a sudorific, &c.; he notices that it has a smell of garlic, and that it is a specific against ‘measles, small-pox, and also the plague or pestilence itself.’ The plague is a form of blood poisoning; a medical friend whom we consulted considered that the symptoms indicated only a mild form of the disease; he also entirely approved of the physician’s treatment of the case.