SAFFRON. 183 



stomach, breast, or liver, &c. ; it was like- 

 wise given in coughs and the pleurisy. 



Nothing is so subject to adulteration, says 

 Pliny, as saffron ; and the best way of trying 

 it is to lay the hand on it, when, if good, it 

 will be heard to crack or snap. This, we 

 presume, was a dry kind of saffron. The 

 same author says, that after handling this 

 drug, if the hand be put to the mouth, it will 

 cause a stinging sensation to the face and 

 eyes if it be good. He adds farther, that the 

 best saffron will, on being chewed, stain the 

 spittle and the teeth, and that the most ef- 

 fectual way of preserving its qualities is to 

 keep it in a box made of horn. 



From these accounts, the crocus that pro- 

 duces the saffron is indisputably a native of 

 the mountainous parts of Asia Minor, and 

 the southern extremities of Europe. It is 

 said also to be an indigenous plant of this 

 country ; but this seems improbable, as it 

 does not ripen its seed either in England or 

 the still warmer countries of Spain or France ; 

 and as it is the nature of the crocus to pro- 

 pagate itself both by seed and offsets, being 

 viviparous as well as oviparous, we cannot 

 consider it a native plant, without also con- 



