PEONV. 75 



even in modern practice there have been advocate 

 for this root in some cases, particularly in that for- 

 midable disease the epilepsy, in the night-mare, 

 vertigoes, and lethargy. It has been commended 

 by some as a most efficacious remedy in obstructions 

 of the liver ; and many extraordinary cases of this 

 description have been recorded by respectable phy- 

 sicians, without alluding to curious accounts handed 

 down from Galen and other ancient medical sources. 



CHINESE TREE PEONY. Paonia Moufruu 



The Chinese have ever been celebrated for their 

 love of flowers, and attention to the cultivation of 

 plants; and it appears to have been the only 

 country in the globe where this profitable and de- 

 lightful employ has not met with serious interrup- 

 tion, since the gardens of China are, in all proba- 

 bility, older than those of Babylon, and other 

 eastern parts of the world, which are passed av.ay 



Like the baseless fabiio of a vision. 



That we did not sooner possess the superb Tree 

 Peony of China in the gardens of Europe, may be 

 in a great measure owing to the vulgar prejudice 

 which formerly existed, of treating all singular re- 



E 2 



