The new family herbal; or, Domestic physician: enumerating, with accurate descriptions, all the known vegetables which are any way remarkable for medical efficacy; with an account of their virtues in the several diseases incident to the human frame.
Birmingham, Printed by T. Pearson; and sold by R. Baldwin, London, 1790.
viii p., 1 l., [ix]-xxiv, 498 p. front., XIV pl. 22 cm.
Call no.: QK99 .M58.
William Meyrick's The new family herbal is typical of late 18th and early 19th century publications aimed at a popular audience. Evincing the common suspicion of academic medicine, such works were intended as a substitute and for use within the family, often by women.
Description of the humble flea bane, flea wort, and flix weed. Flea bane "is esteemed a good wound herb, and is frequently made use of for bruises, ruptures, inward wounds, pains in the side, and difficulty of breathing."