COMPOUND FLOWERS 191 



tlie early morning with unhesitating faith. Even in our days, we may some- 

 times see the delicate invalid sitting by the chamomile-bed to inhale an aroma 

 which he hopes will bring strength to the weakened lungs. The floAvers are 

 strongly fragrant, and l)itter, containing camphor and tannin ; and both odour 

 and flavour may be extracted either by water or alcohol. They also afibrd 

 an essential oil of a fine blue colour, Avhich, on exposure to air, becomes 

 yelloAv. Their properties are tonic, carminative, and slightly anodyne ; and 

 according to Dr. Schall, the infusion is not only an effectual preventive of 

 nightmare, but the only certain remedy for that complaint. The old writers 

 said that the syrup made of the juice of Chamomile flowers, mingled with white 

 wine, was a cure for jaundice; and that a decoction of the flowers is "good 

 to wash the head, and comfort both it and the brain." The Chamomile, though 

 somewhat local, is frequent on many pastures and dry commons, as on those 

 about Tunbridge Wells, making the turf fragrant as the foot presses it. The 

 stem is about a foot long, branched and prostrate ; each branch is terminated 

 by a single flower with a yellow disk (which eA'entually becomes conical), 

 surrounded by white rays. All parts of the flower are intensely bitter, 

 especially the yellow disk, and in this and the involucre the chief virtue of 

 the plant resides. The wild plant is on this account preferable to the culti- 

 vated one, for culture leaves the blossom with very little disk, the central 

 florets becoming changed into rays. The difficulty of collecting the wild 

 flower in sufficient abundance renders it, however, necessary that the Chamo- 

 mile should be planted ; and immense quantities of the plant are reared for 

 the London market in the neighbourhood of Mitcham and Tooting, Avhere, 

 during July, August, and September, hundreds of people are engaged in 

 gathering the blossoms. 



Our fathers early discovered that, as Shakspere said, " The Chamomile, 

 the more it is trodden on, the faster it grows ;" and country people yet walk 

 daily over the little beds of this plant in their gardens in order to help it to 

 perfection. Our ancestors evidently liked its aromatic scent ; for Lawson 

 mentions seats formed of banks of Chamomile and other flowers, on which 

 the men of old times loved to repose in sunshine or shadow. These banks 

 were common in gardens some centuries since, as may be seen in old pictures. 

 One of these, engraved from a MS. of the " Romaunt of the Rose," was repro- 

 duced by Mr. T. Hudson Turner, in the Arclueological Journal, and represents 

 a bank of earth thrown up against the wall of the inclosure, the front faced 

 with brick or stone, the mould reduced to an even surface, and planted to 

 suit the taste of the owner. Chaucer, too, says — ■ 



" And on a little herbere that I liavCj 

 That benched was on turves fresh igrave, 

 I bade men shoulde mee my couche make." 



Such a bank, planted with Chamomile among the turf, would present a 

 soft cushion-like surface, and to those who liked the odour would yield, on 

 pressure, a pleasant perfume. Parkinson alludes to this old use of the plant ; 

 he says, " It is a common hearbe, well knowne, and is planted of the rootes 

 in alleyes and walkes, and on bankes to sit on, for that the more it is trodden 

 on and pressed downe in dry weather, the clcser it groweth, and the better 



