Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/French-Mercury

FRENCH-MERCURY, or Mercurialis annua, L. an in indigenous plant, growing on waste places, and dunghills in the vicinity of towns; and flowering in the months of August and September. The whole of this vegetable is mucilaginous: when cultivated in gardens, it is dressed like spinach, to which it is said to be greatly superior; but, if eaten in a large quantity, it is aperient.—In France, according to Tournefort, a syrup is prepared from the juice of the mercury, 2 oz. of which are given at one dose as a laxative: it is also used in clysters, and pessaries, in the proportion of one part of honey and two of the juice.—In England, this plant was formerly in great an emollient, but is at present disregarded.—As an article of diet, it may be useful to persons liable to costiveness.