ROSEMARY. 139 



Most people acknowledge to have felt the 

 refreshing odour of tea and coffee before 

 tasting them ; and in heated rooms the fra- 

 grance of a cut lemon, or a recently sliced 

 cucumber, has been observed to give general 

 refreshment. 



The ancients held certain odours in the 

 highest veneration. Among the Israelites, 

 the principal perfume of the sanctuary was 

 forbidden for all common uses. The smell 

 of the incense and burnt offerings in their 

 sacrifices was thought to dispose the mind to 

 devotion ; while others were used to excite 

 love, " I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, 

 aloes, and cinnamon." * Some perfumes were 

 prescribed to procure pleasant dreams ; 

 whereas others were deemed of a contrary 

 effect. It appears that they also employed 

 odours as a nourishment when the frame was 

 exhausted; as it is related that Democritus, 

 when on his death-bed, hearing a woman in 

 the house complain that she should be pre- 

 vented from being at a solemn feast which 

 she had a great desire to see, because there 

 would be a corpse in the house, ordered 

 some loaves of new bread to be brought, 



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Proverbs, c. vii. v. 17 



