Grey Ground Liverwort.
Lichen cinereus terrestris.
A plant, very common by our dry wood sides, and in pastures, in some degree resembling the last described, but differing in colour and in its fructification. This consists also entirely of leaves; they are of a bluish grey colour, on the outside, and of a whitish grey underneath. They are two inches long, and an inch and a half broad; and grow in clusters together; often they are less distinct, and therefore appear larger. These do not send up any stalks to bear a kind of flowers in heads. The tips of the leaves turn up, and are reddish, and in these parts are contained the seeds. The whole plant seems dry and tapless.
The whole plant is used, and has been of late very famous. Its efficacy is against the bite of a mad dog; it is mixed with pepper, and the person is at the same time to bathe in the sea. There have been instances of its success, when given to dogs, but perhaps no cure was ever performed upon a human creature, when this terrible disease had arisen to any height. Bleeding and opium are the present practice.
