Dimness of Sight

CND-0038Head, mind and nerves

Historical label: “Dimness of Sight” in the 1850 edition’s “A List of the Principal Diseases”.

Modern reading: eyesight. Searched in PubMed as each plant’s Latin name with vision OR ophthalmic OR cataract OR retina OR eye. The counts and papers are on the Concordance page.

A note on the heading

Plain sense: Failing or clouded sight, from whatever the eye has in it: “films”, “clouds”, “mists”, the “pin and web”, spots. The remedies go into the eye.
What the entries treat: 13 claims: 12 with a sentence, 1 from the index alone. Juices and distilled waters dropped into the eye: Eyebright “helps all infirmities of the eyes that cause dimness of sight”; Angelica “helps dimness of sight and deafness”; Dragons’ water “takes away spots there, or the pin and web, and mends the dimness of sight”; Valerian in white wine “takes away the dimness of the sight, or any pin or web therein”; Mellilot “to take away the film or skin that clouds or dimns the eye-sight”; the water gathered from the Willow’s slit bark “for redness and dimness of sight, or films that grow over the eyes”; Vervain’s water “cleanses them from films, clouds, or mists, that darken the sight, and wonderfully strengthens the optic nerves”; Wild Clary’s seed is put into the eye and left “till it drops out of itself”. Wood Betony works inwardly, “to draw down and evacuate the blood and humours, that by falling into the eyes, do hinder the sight”. Pearl Trefoil is listed in the index with no sentence naming it.
Today’s words: poor vision; blurred vision; cataract (the “pin and web” and the “films”); visual impairment — a broad match: the heading covers more than this, or several modern things.
How it reads today: A symptom, not a disease, then and now. The things named in the eye are mostly what medicine calls cataract, the clouding of the lens: “pin and web” is the dictionary’s obsolete name for one, and the “films” and “clouds” read the same way (our reading). The old remedies were drops, and one was a seed left in the eye. “Optic nerves” in Vervain’s sentence is the anatomy of its day and ours.
References: Wiktionary, s.v. “pin and web” (accessed 2026-10-28): “(obsolete) A cataract of the eye”.

ThinkDeep333, 2026-10-28 · draft, not yet checked. Offered beside Culpeper’s heading, never in its place; nothing here says whether a plant works.

Old claims, quoted verbatim: not medical advice. A warning sits above the claims and never hides them; no warning does not mean safe, only that no source here has flagged the plant.

13 claims: 12 with a sentence, 1 from the index alone

Angelica Angelica archangelicaCLM-000650
The juice or the water, being dropped into the eyes or ears, helps dimness of sight and deafness;
QUO-000520Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
Dragons Dracunculus vulgarisCLM-000652 Not in 1652
Also the distilled water being dropped into the eyes, takes away spots there, or the pin and web, and mends the dimness of sight;
QUO-000522Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
Endive Cichorium endiviaCLM-000653
and wonderfully help not only the redness and inflammations of the eyes, but the dimness of the sight also;
QUO-000523Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
Eyebright Euphrasia officinalisCLM-000654
The juice or distilled water of Eyebright, taken inwardly in white wine or broth, or dropped into the eyes for divers days together, helps all infirmities of the eyes that cause dimness of sight.
QUO-000524Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
Garden Valerian Valeriana officinalisCLM-0006571850 index
The green herb with the root taken fresh, being bruised and applied to the head, takes away the pains and prickings there, stays rheum and thin distillation, and being boiled in white wine, and a drop thereof put into the eyes, takes away the dimness of the sight, or any pin or web therein.
QUO-000526Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
Great Round-Leaved Dock, Or Bastard Rhubarb Rumex alpinusCLM-000656
It helps them that are troubled with the stone, provokes urine, and helps the dimness of the sight.
QUO-000525Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
Mellilot, Or King’s Claver Melilotus officinalisCLM-0022881850 index, p. 115
The juice dropped into the eyes, is a singularly good medicine to take away the film or skin that clouds or dimns the eye-sight.
QUO-001413Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
Pearl TrefoilCLM-0022861850 index, p. 186 Not in 1652
Listed in the 1850 index; the herbal entry has no sentence naming this complaint. No quotation is recorded.
Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
Rattle Grass Rhinanthus minorCLM-000655
The yellow Rattle, or Cock’s Comb, is held to be good for those that are troubled with a cough, or dimness of sight, if the herb, being boiled with beans, and some honey put thereto, be drank or dropped into the eyes.
QUO-000497Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
The Willow Tree Salix albaCLM-000658
Water that is gathered from the Willow, when it flowers, the bark being slit, and a vessel fitting to receive it, is very good for redness and dimness of sight, or films that grow over the eyes, and stay the rheums that fall into them;
QUO-000527Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
Vervain Verbena officinalisCLM-0022871850 index, p. 187
The distilled water of the herb when it is in full strength, dropped into the eyes, cleanses them from films, clouds, or mists, that darken the sight, and wonderfully strengthens the optic nerves.
QUO-001412Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
Wild Clary Salvia verbenacaCLM-000651 Not in 1652
It is a gallant remedy for dimness of sight, to take one of the seeds of it, and put into the eyes, and there let it remain till it drops out of itself, (the pain will be nothing to speak on,) it will cleanse the eyes of all filthy and putrified matter;
QUO-000521Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
Wood Betony Stachys officinalisCLM-000129
The decoction made with Mead, and a little Pennyroyal, is good for those that are troubled with putrid agues, whether quotidian, tertian, or quartan, and to draw down and evacuate the blood and humours, that by falling into the eyes, do hinder the sight;
QUO-000012Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance

Source

Nicholas Culpeper, The Complete Herbal, a new edition (London: Thomas Kelly, 1850). Project Gutenberg eBook #49513. SRC-CUL-1850

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