268 ROSEMARY. 



has had the repute of greatly improving the flesh of sheep 

 that feed on it. 



Rosemary has a grateful aromatic odour, approaching to that 

 of the turpentines, and a warm, bitterish, aromatic taste. The 

 young tops are more powerful than the flowers, but the latter 

 have a more elegant odour, which resides principally in the 

 calyces, the petals having very little either of smell or taste. 

 The aroma appears to be owing to a volatile oil, which rises 

 in distillation with water, and which is combined with cam- 

 phor. This oil is limpid, pale yellow or greenish, very fra- 

 grant, but less agreeable than the plant itself, with a specific 

 gravity of .9108. About one drachm is obtained from a pound 

 and a half of the flowering tops. Rectified spirit extracts the 

 aromatic and stimulating principle of the plant better than 

 water, but the latter obtains by infusion sufficient of its bitter- 

 ness and aroma to render it a useful stomachic and nervine ; 

 hence Rosemary tea is a favourite remedy with country people. 

 We have already mentioned, that Rosemary is very usefully 

 combined with the dried petals of the red Rose and Balm, as a 

 medicinal tea. Bruising the flowers destroys in a great mea- 

 sure their fragrance ; consequently the conserve recommended 

 by some is not a suitable preparation. 



Medicinal Properties and Uses. — Rosemary is essentially 

 tonic and excitant, and when ingested produces a heat in the 

 stomach. Its exciting powers are particularly transmitted to 

 the nervous system, and it stimulates all the organic functions ; 

 — thus it augments the action of the heart, accelerates circula- 

 lation, and urges the exhalant, cutaneous, and other vessels. 

 As a tonic it is useful in atony and debility, but from its stimu- 

 lating property, it should not be given in inflammatory cases 

 nor those accompanied with heat, thirst, dryness of the skin, or 

 general irritation. In affections of debility, where we wish 

 to excite the action of certain organs, it is a highly approved 

 remedy, particularly in nervous diseases, in hysteria, syncope, 

 apoplexy, asphyxia, paralysis, and against the paroxysms of 

 some intermittent fevers ; as also in idiopathic dyspepsia, and 

 hypochondriasis. In female complaints, especially those aris- 

 ing from obstruction, in leucorrhcea *, and in chlorosis t, its 



* Schultz, ex Flore Medicale, torn. vi. p. 44. 

 f Bergius, Mat. Med. p. 21. 



