A CHEMIST'S HOLIDAY IN FRANCE. 435 



primitive style of bed and board with which visitors to the 1864. 

 establishment are entertained. But I wish to relate to you the 

 beneficial effect to the institution of a little pharmaceutical 

 knowledge. 



Previous to the French Revolution of 1789, the convent had 

 large landed possessions, all of which were confiscated during 

 that convulsion, and the monks expelled for a period of over 

 twenty years. However, in 1816, the Grande Chartreuse was 

 restored to its owners, but without the restitution of its lands, 

 the only privilege allowed being the right of pasturage and of 

 cutting wood in the circumjacent forest. But the monks had 

 another resource: they made some excellent cordials and an Cordials and 

 elixir of wonderful virtue, both distilled from the aromatic plants Elixir - 

 growing on the alpine pastures. They invented also a tooth- 

 tincture, and a certain preparation of iron, known under the 

 name of Boule d'acier ; and these have become sources of 

 revenue almost equal in value to the houses and lands lost by 

 the Revolution. The liqueurs or cordials, in particular, are in 

 universal demand, and bring an income, it is said, of nearly 

 20,000 a year. The composition of these liqueurs, of which 

 there are three kinds, the green, the yellow, and the white, is 

 not known. Balm, wormwood, a small pink, and the buds of a 

 fir, are said to be ingredients, but there are probably several 

 others, among which I could fancy, judging from the taste of 

 the yellow liqueur, there might be Astrantia and Meum, both 

 common plants in the meadows round the Chartreuse. 



The subalpine woods of this part of Dauphiny produce the 

 spruce fir (Abies excelsa, D.C.), the source of genuine Burgundy Firs. 

 pitch, which, however, is not collected, though it easily might 

 be, as one sees it streaming from the tree-trunks on all sides. 

 The silver fir is also common : it yields, I may remind you, the 

 rare and fragrant Strasburg turpentine, once official amongst us, 

 under the name of Terebinthina argentoratensis. This turpen- 

 tine is obtained by puncturing small swellings in the bark of 

 young trees, and allowing the single drop of clear turpentine 

 which exudes from the puncture, to run into some small vessel 

 held below to receive it. The Scotch fir is also found in some 



F F 2 



