LIME OR LINDEN -TREE. 231 



boughs, and eagerly gather the fragrant blossoms, which 

 their mothers catch in their aprons, for the same purpose. 

 China may boast concerning her fragrant beverage ; but tea 

 produced from my blossoms is soft, well-flavoured, and 

 saccharine, in taste resembling liquorice; and Missa, the 

 French physician, obtained from my fruit a substance 

 not unlike chocolate. This experiment was repeated by 

 Margraff with equal success ; and probably some of our 

 American brethren may yield a produce more completely 

 similar. Hoffmann recommends an infusion of my blossoms 

 for inveterate epilepsy, and Dr. Swediaur as an antispasmodic. 

 Nor less various are the benefits conferred by my bark 

 and wood. Sannagaro distinguished me by the epithet in- 

 corruptible, " La tiglia incorruptibile" in allusion to the 

 imperishable nature of my papyraceous coating. Hence 

 many valuable works were committed to my charge. You 

 may see a work of Cicero written on my inner bark, 

 in the library at Venice; and from the outer, Carniolan 

 peasants prepare a kind of coarse stun . When macerated 



