rose. 263 



Valeriola, Forestus, Riverius*, Krugert, and others bear tes- 

 timony to the same effect. They all, however, combined it 

 with milk or other nutritious substance, and sometimes before 

 a cure was effected, from twenty to thirty pounds of the con- 

 serve were consumed by the patient. 



The essential oil, by virtue of its powerful aroma, acts 

 promptly and vigorously upon the nervous system, and conse- 

 quently upon the heart and brain. Hippocrates was not ig- 

 norant of its powers, and he recommends it in diseases of the 

 uterus. In the present day, it is seldom or never employed 

 medicinally. Much, however, remains to be discovered as to 

 the therapeutic effects of odours. We are assured that, 

 pleasant as the odour of roses is to most individuals, it 

 has, like the aroma of the lily and other flowers, acted as a 

 poison upon certain individuals, severely affecting the nervous 

 system, producing headache, fainting, hysteria, &c, and some- 

 times local irritation, such as inflammation of the eyes. Persons 

 are stated to have died from being exposed to the emanations 

 of a large quantity of the flowers in a close apartment J. 



Externally, the petals of the red Rose are employed in various 

 ways. In a powdered form, they enter into various sternuta- 

 tories ; made into cataplasms, &c, they are sometimes used to 

 favour the resolution of cold and indolent tumours, or atonic 

 swellings. The aqueous or vinous infusion is employed in the 

 form of local bath or fomentation to relaxed parts. The 

 distilled water serves as a collyrium for the eyes, but it is 

 generally combined with sulphate of zinc or acetate of lead. 



The dose of the dried petals is from half a drachm to a 

 drachm in powder ; or an ounce to a pint of water in the form 

 of infusion. An excellent stomachic tea, much more salu- 

 brious than the foreign herb, is made with equal parts of the 

 petals of red Rose, and the leaves or tops of Balm, and Rose- 

 mary. The following are the officinal preparations. 



CONFECTION OF THE RED ROSE §. 

 Take of unblown petals of the red Rose 



freed from the claws ...... one pound. 



Refined sugar three pounds. 



* Prax. Med. lib. vii. cap. 7. 

 f Eph. Nat. Cur. Dec. ii. Ann. 4, obs. 9. 

 £ See Murray's Appar. Med. torn. iii. p. 1G0. 

 § Confectio Rosae. Pharm. Lond., 1836. 



