Happy Earth Day!
Apr. 22nd, 2010 09:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
melannen posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
common_natureSo, what did you all do for the 40th anniversary of Earth Day?
I went to my area's Interfaith Earth Day celebration, and got a chance to shake hands with the Governor. And heard a talk from the bishop of the episcopal diocese of Maryland, as well as discussions about caring for Creation from an imam and a rabbi and a member of the local friends meetingand planted something with instructions from a master gardener, and drank some whole milk that hadn't been homogenized (for the first time in my life!), and talked about resources for local food in my area, and discussed rain gardens, and signed a petition for clean energy, and got all fired up again about growing my own food; I have a day off tomorrow and may spend it planting things. (They will all die by July, but at least I will have planted them.) Also, interfaith services *always* have the best songs, because they always end up going for the ones about the glory of Creation and how to live in it.
And then I sat down and worked on some long-overdue Fecundity Project posts.
In re: fecundity project, I just finally got a real old-fashioned herbal of my very own - the Dover reprint of the 1936 "Modern Herbal" in two volumes by Mrs. M. Greive, to be exact. It was $1 at a church rummage sale last week, and I am in raptures. Also, *utterly lost* - I thought I had a good vocabulary and was reasonably skilled at reading about folk medicine, and then I started this book. As part of my Earth Day observation I sat and made a list of words for things medicinal plants do, according to this book. How many of them do you know from this list?
Alterative, anodyne, antihelminthic, antiscorbutic, aperient, astringent, carminative, cathartic, demulcent, dentifrice, diaphoretic, diluent, electuary, emetic, emmenagogue, emmolient, excipient, expectorant, febrifuge, glairy, hydragogue, mucilaginous, nervine, purgative, sialogogue, stomachic, stypic, tonic, vermifuge, vulnerary
(and that's just from the A's. For the record, I got 13 right from that list.)
I went to my area's Interfaith Earth Day celebration, and got a chance to shake hands with the Governor. And heard a talk from the bishop of the episcopal diocese of Maryland, as well as discussions about caring for Creation from an imam and a rabbi and a member of the local friends meetingand planted something with instructions from a master gardener, and drank some whole milk that hadn't been homogenized (for the first time in my life!), and talked about resources for local food in my area, and discussed rain gardens, and signed a petition for clean energy, and got all fired up again about growing my own food; I have a day off tomorrow and may spend it planting things. (They will all die by July, but at least I will have planted them.) Also, interfaith services *always* have the best songs, because they always end up going for the ones about the glory of Creation and how to live in it.
And then I sat down and worked on some long-overdue Fecundity Project posts.
In re: fecundity project, I just finally got a real old-fashioned herbal of my very own - the Dover reprint of the 1936 "Modern Herbal" in two volumes by Mrs. M. Greive, to be exact. It was $1 at a church rummage sale last week, and I am in raptures. Also, *utterly lost* - I thought I had a good vocabulary and was reasonably skilled at reading about folk medicine, and then I started this book. As part of my Earth Day observation I sat and made a list of words for things medicinal plants do, according to this book. How many of them do you know from this list?
Alterative, anodyne, antihelminthic, antiscorbutic, aperient, astringent, carminative, cathartic, demulcent, dentifrice, diaphoretic, diluent, electuary, emetic, emmenagogue, emmolient, excipient, expectorant, febrifuge, glairy, hydragogue, mucilaginous, nervine, purgative, sialogogue, stomachic, stypic, tonic, vermifuge, vulnerary
(and that's just from the A's. For the record, I got 13 right from that list.)
no subject
Date: 2010-04-23 01:09 pm (UTC)Alterative: No idea -- my only guess is that it lifts one's mood.
Anodyne: Painkiller
Antihelminthic: Kills/prevents worms
Antiscorbutic: Cures/prevents scurvy
Aperient: No idea
Astringent: Um... it's astringent. I don't know how else to say it. It cleans and tightens things up, like witch hazel.
Carminative: Improves the circulation?
Cathartic: "Cleans you out", like a purgative or emetic.
Demulcent: Soothing
Dentifrice: Tooth cleaner
Diaphoretic: Like a diuretic?
Diluent: Chemically speaking, that's something that dilutes something else, but I'm not sure what that would mean in terms of herbal medicine. Maybe it makes the urine more dilute?
Electuary: no idea
Emetic: Causes vomiting
Emmenagogue: Brings on one's period
Emmolient: Moisturizing
Excipient: Grr, this one's lurking in the back of my mind somewhere....
Expectorant: Loosens phlegm, allowing you to hork it up.
Febrifuge: Cures fever
Glairy: I have no idea, but I think I love this word.
Hydragogue: Well, it "brings water" but I have no idea where or why.
Mucilaginous: Slimy (soothing, moisturizing)
Nervine: Good for the nerves
Purgative: Promotes purging (vomiting, or out the other end)
Sialogogue: No idea which bodily fluid this one bring on (or brings out). Semen, maybe?
Stomachic: Soothes stomach aches
Styptic: Stops blood flow
Tonic: General health improver
Vermifuge: Expels worms
Vulnerary: Wound healer
How did I do? Are the answers posted downthread? ::goes to check::
no subject
Date: 2010-04-23 02:25 pm (UTC)See above for "aperient" and "carminative".
Diaphoretics make you sweat.
Diluent - you're right on the base meaning; I think in context it actually refers to something that could be used to dilute other medicines, but I'm not sure (a lot of these just showed up as long lists of adjectives.)
Electuary is similar, I think it's basically things you can use as the dry fillers when making pills.
Excipient is another one of those, more specifically I think a binder for things that are otherwise insoluble.
Glairy is "giving the texture of glair", which is processed egg-white.
Hydragogue is yet *another* purgative, but specifically loose/watery discharge.
Sialogogue - the bodily fluid you're looking for here is saliva.
The others are all right! I am very impressed.