PEONY. 209 



merits are wanting to confirm its powers and to acquaint us 

 more precisely with its modus operandi. 



The root has been given in the dose of two or three scruples, 

 twice or thrice a day, or the expressed juice mixed with sherry 

 wine and sweetened with sugar ; the bruised root or the expressed 

 juice is also made into a syrup. A distilled water and a con- 

 serve have been made with the flowers, which are now seldom 

 employed ; the latter is the more preferable form. " Ettmuller 

 recommends an anti-epileptic emulsion made with the seeds 

 beaten up with the distilled Peony water, loaf sugar, and gum 

 arabic as a remedy for the terrific dreams and nocturnal terrors 

 of children, which are often the precursors of epilepsy."* The 

 root likewise enters into several anti-epileptic powders, to which, 

 however, much confidence cannot be granted. 



* Waller, Brit. Dom. Herb. p. 271. 



