Printed in the 1850 edition’s “A List of the Principal Diseases” as “—— Bald” under “Head” (the dash stands for the heading above it, or its first word); shown here as “Head — Bald”.
Modern literature has not yet been searched for this heading’s claims: it comes only from the 1850 index and has no search words yet.
A note on the heading
Plain sense
Hair that falls or sheds, and the scalp disease that goes with it. The two sentences are about hair coming out and a sore, scurfy scalp; neither is the bald head of age.
What the entries treat
Two claims. Wall Rue’s lye “stays the falling or shedding of the hair, and causes it to grow thick, fair, and well coloured”, in a sentence that also cleanses the head “from scurf, and from dry and running sores”; White Lilies’ ointment of the root in hog’s grease “is excellently good for scald heads”, the sentence the index also files under Head — Scald.
Where the word comes from
Middle English balled, ballid, “of uncertain origin”, probably from Middle English bal, balle, “ball, round object, knoll, head”.
Today’s words
hair loss; alopecia (medicine’s word for hair loss of any cause); (for the White Lilies sentence) a scalp condition — a broad match: the heading covers more than this, or several modern things.
How it reads today
A reader who types “bald” means the receding head of middle age; the sentences are about hair falling out and a scurfy, sore scalp. Our reading: hair loss with a scalp condition, not pattern baldness. Broad because the two sentences cover a symptom and a disease, and neither is the usual modern sense.
References
Wiktionary, s.v. “bald” (accessed 2026-10-28): “From Middle English balled, ballid, bald (‘bald’), of uncertain origin. Probably formed from Middle English bal, balle (‘ball, round object, knoll, head’)”; sense “having little or no hair on the head, or having a large area of bare scalp on top of the head”.
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.
2 claims: 2 with a sentence, 0 from the index alone
The lye made thereof is singularly good to cleanse the head from scurf, and from dry and running sores, stays the falling or shedding of the hair, and causes it to grow thick, fair, and well coloured;