]60 FLORA HISTORICA. 



The flowers of this plant possess not only an 

 agreeable odour, but also a fragrance thaUs refresh- 

 ing and highly medicinal against nervous affections 

 and many diseases of the head. The water distilled 

 from these little corollas was formerly in such great 

 repute that it was kept only in vessels of gold and 

 silver, and hence Matthiolus calls it Aqua aurea, 

 golden wafer. It was esteemed as a preventive 

 against all infectious distempers. Miller tells us, in 

 his Bot. Off., that these flowers are of great service 

 in all disorders of the head and nerves, as apoplexy, 

 epilepsy, convulsions, vertigo, &c, &c. 



Geoffroy directs, for the distillation of the water^ 

 that it should be prepared from the fresh-gathered 

 flowers, whilst wet with the morning dew, in a 

 water-bath, and that the water thus obtained be 

 poured upon fresh flowers and distilled again, and 

 repeated in the same way for several times, until it 

 becomes very fragrant. In a similar manner also 

 the spirit is directed to be made by Ettmuller ; 

 macerating the flowers wet with the dew in good 

 spirit of wine, and drawing off the same spirit by a 

 water-bath from fresh flowers three or four times, 

 by which means a most valuable spirit will be 

 obtained, which he greatly extols in head-aches, 

 nervous affections of all kinds, hysterics, and faint- 

 ings, &c. 



In Germany it is common to make a wine of the 



