wife of Mausolus king of Caria, has immortalized herself by the honours which she paid to the memory of her husband. She built for him in Halicarnassus a very magnificent tomb, called the Mausoleum, which was one of the seven wonders of the world, and from which the title of Mausoleum was afterwards given to all tombs remarkable for their grandeur; but she died of regret and sorrow before the Mausoleum was finished. She appointed panegyrics to be made in honour of him, and proposed a prize of great value for the person who should compose the best. He died about the end of the 106th Olympiad, 351 years before the Christian era.

Artemisia, queen of Caria, and the daughter of Ligdamis, marched in person in the expedition of Xerxes against the Greeks, and performed wonders in the sea-fight near Salamis, 480 years before the Christian era. Being pursued by an Athenian vessel, she attacked one of the Persian ships, commanded by Demosthenes, king of Calyndus, her enemy, and sunk it; on which the Athenians, thinking that her ship was on the side of the Greeks, ceased their pursuit; but Xerxes was the principal person imposed upon in this affair; for believing she had sunk an Athenian vessel, he declared, that "the men had behaved like women, and the women like men." Xerxes intrusted her with the care of the young princes of Persia, his sons, when, agreeably to her advice, he abandoned Greece, in order to return to Asia. These great qualities did not secure her from the weakness of love: she was passionately fond of a man of Abydos, whose name was Dardanus, and was so enraged at his neglect of her, that she put out his eyes while he was asleep. The gods, in order to punish her for this, inspired her with a still stronger passion for him; so that the oracle having advised her to go to Leucas, which was the usage of desperate lovers, she took the leap from thence, and was interred at that place.—Many writers confound this Artemisia with the former, the wife of Mausolus.

Artemisia, Mugwort, Southernwood, and Wormwood: A genus of the polygama superflua order, belonging to the syngenesia class of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 49th order, Compositae. The receptacle is either naked or a little downy; it has no pappus; the calyx is imbricated with roundish scales; and the corolla has no radii.—The Species are 23; of which the most noted are the following. 1. The vulgaris, or common mugwort, grows naturally on banks and by the sides of foot-paths in many parts of Britain; so is seldom admitted into gardens, where it would prove a troublesome weed, as it spreads very fast by its creeping roots. It flowers in June, at which time the plant is ready for use. 2. The dracunculus, or tarragon, which is frequently used in fallads, especially by the French, is a very hardy plant, and spreads greatly by its creeping roots. 3. The abrotanum, or southernwood, which is kept in gardens for the sake of its agreeable scent, is a low shrub. Seldom rising more than three or four feet high, sending out lateral shrubby branches, growing erect, garnished with five bristly leaves, having an agreeable scent when bruised; the flowers are produced in spikes from the extremity of the branches; but unless the autumn proves warm, they seldom open in England. 4. The santonicum produces the semen santonicum, which is much used for worms in children. It grows naturally in Persia, from whence the seeds are brought to Europe. It hath the appearance of our wild mugwort; the branches are slender, erect, and garnished with linear winged leaves, and terminated by recurved slender spikes of flowers which have naked receptacles. 5. The artemisia maritima, or sea-wormwood, grows naturally on the sea-coasts in most parts of Britain, where there are several varieties, if not distinct species to be found. These are low under shrubs, most of which creep at the root, by which they multiply greatly in their natural situation, but when transplanted into gardens seldom thrive so well. 6. The pontica, or pontic wormwood, commonly called Roman wormwood, is a low herbaceous plant, whose stalks die in autumn, and new ones appear in the spring. These are garnished with finely-divided leaves, whose undersides are woolly; and the upper part of the stalks are furnished with globular flowers which nod on one side, having naked receptacles. These appear in August, but are rarely succeeded by seeds in Britain. 7. The absinthium, or common wormwood, grows naturally in lanes and uncultivated places, and is too well known to require any particular description. 8. The arborescens, or tree-wormwood, grows naturally in Italy and the Levant near the sea. It rises, with a woody stalk, six or seven feet high, sending out many ligneous branches, garnished with leaves somewhat like those of the common wormwood, but more finely divided, and much whiter. The branches are terminated by spikes of globular flowers in the autumn, which are seldom succeeded by seeds in this country.

Culture. The southernwood is propagated by slips or cuttings planted in a shady border about the beginning of April, observing to water them duly in dry weather. In this border they may remain till the following autumn, when they should be transplanted, either into pots or those parts of the garden where they are to remain. The santonicum is likewise propagated by slips; but the plants should be placed in a dry soil and sheltered situation, where they will endure the cold of our ordinary winters pretty well; though it will be proper to have a plant or two in pots, which may be sheltered under a common hot bed frame in winter, to preserve the species. The true wormwood is easily propagated in the same manner. The cuttings must be planted in a shady border, and duly watered during the summer season, in which case, they will take root freely. In autumn some of the young plants should be potted, that they may be sheltered in winter; the others may be planted in a warm border, where they will live, provided the winter proves favourable. The other sorts spread by their creeping roots; and require no culture, as they are very hardy, and will thrive anywhere.

Medicinal Uses. The seeds of the santonicum are small light, chaffy, composed as it were of a number of thin membranous coats, of a yellowish colour, an unpleasant smell, and a very bitter taste. They are celebrated for anthelmintic virtues (which they have in common with other bitters), and are sometimes taken in this intention, either alone with melsasses or candied with sugar. They are not very often met with genuine in the shops. The leaves of the sea, common, and Roman wormwoods, are used as stomachics, but are all very disagreeable: the Roman is the least so, and therefore is to be preferred; but the other two kinds are generally substituted in its place. The distilled oil of wormwood is sometimes made use of to rub on the belly as a cure for worms.

The leaves of the vulgaris, or common mugwort, have a light aromatic smell, and an herbaceous bitterish taste. They were formerly celebrated as uterine and antihysteric: an infusion of them is sometimes drank, either alone or in conjunction with other substances, in suppression of the menstrual evacuations. This medicine is certainly a very mild one, and considerably less hot than most others to which these virtues are attributed. In some parts of this kingdom, mugwort is of common use as a pot-herb. It is now, however, very little employed in medicine; and it is probably with propriety that the London College have rejected it from their pharmacopoeia.

The moxa, so famous in the eastern countries for curing the gout by burning it on the part affected, is the lanugo or down growing on the under side of the leaves of a species of mugwort, supposed to be the same with our common sort. From some dried samples of this plant which were brought over to this country, Mr Miller reckons them to be the same, differing only in size; in which the East Indian kind is inferior to ours. He supposes that the lanugo of our mugwort would be equally efficacious. But according to Abbé Grosier, "the leaves are more deeply indented than those of the common kind; it is also softer, and of a more silky texture. The ancient Chinese made great use of it in medicine. In all the northern provinces, the principal remedy for most diseases consisted in making deep punctures in the body, upon which small balls of the down of this plant were burnt. These punctures were made with needles of gold or steel, without drawing blood; and all the skill required in the physician, was to determine their number and depth, and where it was necessary to make them. It was necessary that the down of the mugwort should be very old; and, as every kind of fire was not proper for lighting the salutary balls, they employed mirrors made of ice or metal. "They caused the water to freeze (says the ancient text) in a round convex vessel; and the ice being presented to the sun, collected its rays, and set fire to the down of the plant." The literati are not at present agreed whether the secret of curing diseases by punctures be preserved; but these downy balls are still used instead of cupping glasses in apoplectic and lithargic cases. Girdles made of this down are also recommended for the sciatica, and those afflicted with the rheumatism in their legs are advised to quilt their stockings with it. The mugwort destined for this purpose is gathered only in autumn; and care must be taken to pick that which has the shortest and softest down.

"In China, the juice of the common mugwort, when green, is used to stop spitting of blood: and the seeds are employed for the same purpose. The dose of the latter is divided into two parts: one of which is reduced to ashes, and put into water in which the other has been boiled. These allies, it is said, when taken as snuff, immediately stop bleedings of the nose. The Chinese prescribe this plant also with success for dysenteries which proceed from weakness; and for pleuritis, and disorders of the stomach. An infusion of the stalks and buttons of mugwort is recommended to old people instead of tea.—Mugwort was formerly considered there as a powerful preservative against witchcraft. The ancient books relate, that, in the third century of the Christian era, it was customary for people to gather this plant before sunrise, and to suspend it afterwards over their doors. The poets of the seventh century mention this custom, and describe the manner in which the streets of the capital were ornamented with it on the fifth day of the fifth moon; that is to say, about midsummer.

"Of a species which bears prickles on the edges of its leaves, the leaves, when dried, are beaten with a wooden bat until the soft part is entirely separated from the fibres; and after they have been dipped in water mixed with saltpetre, they are used for tinder; no other kind is known at Pei-king; and it is equal to that of Europe. It appears that the ancient Chinese made use of the soft part of this plant for quilting, for making mattresses, and even for cloth. They also employed it for manufacturing a kind of paper."