148 SAFFRON. 



and attached to the termination of the style, which hangs out 

 on one side of the corolla from between two of its segments 

 or petals. These stigmas form the medicinal part of the 

 plant. By the ancients it was employed, under the name of 

 crocus, both as a medicine and with their food: it was also 

 highly esteemed by the Arabians. Hasselquist found great 

 quantities near Smyrna, and between that place and Magnesia, 

 blooming in early spring. They were of a deep-yellow and 

 lighter shade. Russell speaks of a variety near Aleppo, and 

 also of a scented kind which he says was common in Syria; 

 and it is supposed that a mixture of this fragrant plant with 

 the ordinary drug formed the saffron which Pliny says was 

 scattered over the seats of the public theatres to form an 

 agreeable perfume for the spectators. 



The Scripture allusion to this plant, occurring only in Song 

 of Solomon iv. 14, must have had regard to this fragrant kind, 

 judging from the fact that all the associations in that poetical 

 passage are those of fragrance: &quot;Spikenard and saffron, 

 calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh 

 and aloes, with all the chief spices. . . . Awake, north wind; 

 and come, thou south : blow upon my garden, that the spices 

 thereof may flow out.&quot; 





