THE ROSE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 183 



general that neither he nor his predecessors liad ever fail- 

 ed to perforin that duty. 



About the year 1631, there was published a very curious 

 book on the Rose, by a German named Rosenberg. 

 About 250 octavo pages are devoted entirely to the praise 

 of the curative properties of the Rose in almost every 

 known disease, making, in fact, this flower a universal 

 panacea for the many ills to which flesh is heir. The au- 

 thor also claims for it supernatural qualities, particularly 

 for driving away evil spirits. The work closes by assert- 

 ing, as a positive fact, supported by several authorities 

 which he quotes, the remarkable regeneration or resurrec- 

 tion of the Rose. He gives also the process of this re- 

 production, which is scarcely worth inserting here, being, 

 like the story of the Phoenix, a fable engendered by super- 

 stition upon ignorance. It is somewhat surprising that 

 this fable should have been very gravely reproduced, in a 

 French w^ork on the Rose, published in 1800. The author 

 states that, "notwithstanding the many marvelous things 

 which we already know respecting the improving, forcing, 

 changing, and multiplying of roses, w^e have yet to de- 

 scribe the most surprising of all — that of its regeneration ; 

 or, in other words, the manner of reproducing that flower 

 from its own ashes. This is called the imperial secret^ be- 

 cause the Emperor Ferdinand III. purchased it of a foreign 

 chemist, at a very high price." The conclusion is a rather 

 amusing instance of Munchausenism in the 19th century. 

 " Finally, all this material being placed in a glass vessel, 

 with a certain quantity of pure dew, forms a blue powder, 

 from which, when heat is applied, there springs a stem, 

 leaves, and flowers, and a whole and perfect plant is form- 

 ed from its own ashes." 



It is diflicult to credit the fact that, in any part of this 

 enlightened age, an author could be found who would 

 gravely and in sincerity advance such opinions and state 

 such facts as the above ; and it is but an additional proof, 



