46 HYSSOP. 



Writings. We read (Exod.xii. 22 ; Numb. xix. 6) that a bunch of 

 hyssop was ordered to be dipped in the blood ; and John xix. 29, 

 ■" they filled a sponge and put it upon hyssop," which certainly 

 could not refer to a minute and slender moss. Further, in the 

 purification of lepers, a bunch of hyssop with branches of cedar 

 and red wool was dipped in blood and sprinkled on the leper. It 

 is not improbable, then, that Solomon, when he u spake of the 

 cedar which is in Lebanon, to the hyssop which groweth out of 

 the wall" (1 Kings iv. 33), made especial mention of those plants 

 which were connected with the religious history and ceremonial 

 observances of the Jewish people. 



Qualities. — This plant has a very agreeable, fragrant odour, 

 and a warm, aromatic, bitterish taste. According to Bergius, the 

 recent herb, when masticated, affects the tongue and fauces with a 

 sensation of heat, like that produced by camphor, but more feeble. 

 The watery infusion of the flowering tops is of a reddish saffron 

 colour, of a slightly fragrant smell and rather bitter taste, and is 

 rendered brown by the addition of sulphate of iron, which pro- 

 duces a copious dark grey precipitate. The distilled water of the 

 recent plant is strongly impregnated with its agreeable flavour, 

 and an essential oil * rises to the surface, of a yellowish colour, 

 fragrant odour, and very pungent taste. The aqueous extract is 

 bitter, and somewhat acrid and saline. Alcohol extracts its active 

 principle rather more completely than water, and the spirituous 

 extract is bitterish, very warm, and pungent, like camphor. 



Medicinal Properties and Uses. — If we examine attentively 

 the effects of Hyssop on the animal economy, we shall readily 

 discover its properties. It manifestly excites, in a slight and sudden 

 manner, the different functions of physical life ; on which account 

 we freely grant it stimulating, diuretic, sudorific, and resolutive 

 properties. As a tonic it scarcely merits any attention. It was 

 formerly particularly recommended for diseases of the chest, espe- 

 cially cartarrh, and asthma, f with the view of promoting expecto- 

 ration ; but its stimulating properties render it a doubtful remedy 

 in these complaints. 



The infusion of the leaves, in the form of tea, augments the 



* From 20 lbs. of the herb, gathered just before flowering, Baume 

 obtained six drachms of essential oil ; while Lewis states, that (! lbs. of the 

 leaves yield about an ounce of oil. 



t Murray; Appar. Med. torn. ii. p. 164. 



