JUNIPER. 213 



trasts well with the laurel and other shrubs of that nature. 

 Evelyn tells us that his brother transplanted a juniper- 

 bush of about two feet high, from a common into his 

 garden, which in ten years had grown to such a size, that 

 an arbour of seven feet square and eleven feet high, was 

 cut out of it, and that it would have been much larger 



o 



had it not been kept constantly shorn. The flowers 

 of the juniper are herbaceous, and, if viewed with a mi- 

 croscope, would be found a most beautiful model, either 

 for the jeweller, or the ornamental sculptor. The old 

 English epicures had their spits, and spoons, made of 

 juniper-wood, which we are told imparted a grateful relish 

 to their food. 



Juniper-berries, used by distillers to flavour their gin, 

 are principally brought from Holland and Italy. These 

 berries are carminative ; but their most remarkable pro- 

 perties are in scouring the viscera, and particularly the 

 reins and urinary passages, for which reason they are of 

 great service in asthmas, cachexies, the jaundice, colic, 

 the stone of the bladder and kidneys, as also crudities 

 of the stomach. The oil of juniper-berries is a very 

 stimulating diuretic : the decoction, inspissated to the 

 consistency of a rob, or extract, has a pleasant, balsamic, 

 sweet taste. This extract may be used with advantage, 

 in catarrhs, debility of the stomach and intestines, and 

 difficulties of the urinary excretions, in persons of ad- 

 vanced age. 



Etmuller had a high opinion of juniper-berries. The 

 rob, made of the expressed juice of the green berries, has 

 been called by many theriaca Germanorum, so much are 

 they esteemed by that nation for their alexipharmic 

 qualities. The ripe berries, when dried, were formerly 

 used in this country as pepper, before that spice was 

 brought hither in such quantities. In many parts of Ger- 

 many, they are still used as a culinary spice, and the fla- 



