80 SPIKENARD. 
or tendril, and thus the required support is obtained. 
The liquid is secreted by the plant itself, and is re- 
markably pure, though it grows in a muddy and un- 
wholesome marsh. 
The costly and delicious odor, known in ancient 
times as Spikenard, has been assigned by various au- 
thors as the product of different plants, and it has 
not been until recently that any satisfactory infor- 
mation has been gained respecting it. There now 
appears, however, to be but little doubt that it is a 
species of Valerian, which grows in the colder parts 
of the mountains of India. The plant must have 
been comparatively rare, as it is always spoken of in 
Scripture as being very precious or costly. When 
Mary anointed the head of Jesus with this sweet 
perfume, Judas took occasion to murmur at the waste, 
saying, that “this ointment might have been sold for 
more than three hundred pence, and given to the 
poor.” It was usually imported in boxes of alabaster, 
and when the master of a house received his guests, 
it was customary for him not only to crown them with 
flowers, but also to bring forth the box of precious 
ointment, and break the seal which prevented the 
volatile perfume from escaping, and anoint them with 
it. So sweet was its fragrance, and so much esteemed, 
that Horace, speaking of it, says, “that a small onyx 
box full was equal in value to a large vessel of wine.” 
Its costliness was probably owing in part to the great 
distance from which it was brought. 
In reading over the books of the Old Testament, 
one cannot fail to be struck with the fact that per- 
