JUNIPER 201 



that these juniper berries find chief employment. They 

 are largely collected in Savoy, Austria, and elsewhere 

 throughout the Continent, and hundreds of tons of them 

 find their way annually to Holland and England, the great 

 seats of the manufacture of this Hollands or Geneva. 



Why this stuff made in Holland should be called 

 Hollands seems fairly evident, but why it should be also 

 known as Geneva does not so immediately appear. The 

 problem, however, is not a geographical one at all. Gin 

 'is so called because the plant we call juniper is in Holland 

 the genever. It is in France the genievre, and in Italy 

 the ginepro. In France a bright sparkling beverage called 

 genevrette is produced by fermenting equal parts of juniper 

 berries and barley together. 



It was for centuries a custom in many parts of 

 Europe, and it doubtless still holds, to ■place a few of 

 these aromatic juniper branches on the fire to drive away 

 •evil spirits and shield the house from witchcraft, and 

 they are also employed for the more prosaic duty of 

 •smoking hams. 



Preparations from juniper are still officinal and take their 

 place amongst the paraphernalia of the modern doctor, 

 but their use is small indeed as compared with their ancient 

 and mediaeval reputation. Mithridates, the renowned king 

 of Pontus, took each morning, as an antidote against in- 

 fection or poison, twenty leaves of rue, a little salt, 

 two walnuts, two figs, and twenty juniper berries, all 

 •beaten up together ! Such a prescription had need possess 



JLondoners, that it would be difficult to name any complaint that they would 

 not be afflicted with for the sake of a plentiful supply of the cordial to which 

 it is imparted." 



