326 



are good for the inflammation of the eyes. 

 The root of the tree was used more as a 

 charm than a medicine for those afflicted 

 with the scrofula. 



Quince-trees grow wild on the banks of 

 the Danube, and they are stated to have 

 been brought into this country from the island 

 of Crete, now called Candia. They have 

 long been cultivated in this kingdom, as our 

 earliest authors on this subject mention them. 

 Gerard says, they were often planted in 

 hedges and fences to gardens and vineyards 

 in his time. By the Hortus Kewensis it 

 appears that the quince was first introduced 

 in the reign of Henry the VHIth, 1537, 

 which is evidently an error, from the circum- 

 stance above related by Gerard, who was 

 then an old man. 



Quinces are used in medicine, being of 

 an astringent and stomachic quality. The 

 expressed juice of this fruit, in small quanti- 

 ties, as a spoonful or two, is of service in 

 nausea, vomiting, &c. Lord Bacon says, " It 

 is certain that the use of quinces is good 

 to strengthen the stomach ; but we take them 

 to be better if they be used in that which 

 they call quiddeny of quinces, than in the 

 bodies of quinces themselves, because they 



