CROCUS. 665 



Aqiiila in the Abruzzi was also famous, and used to be distinguished in 

 price-lists till the beginning of the present century ; the culture of 

 saffron is still going on there to a small extent.^ The growing of 

 saffron in Sicily, which was noticed even by Columella, is carried 

 on to the present day, but the quantity produced is insufficient 

 even for home consumption.^ In Germany and Switzerland, where 

 a more rigorous climate must have increased the difficulties of culti- 

 vation, the production of saffron was an object of industry in many 

 localities.^ 



The saffron crocus is said to have been introduced into England 

 during the reign of Edward III. (a.d. 1327-1377).* Two centuries later 

 English saffron was even exported to the Continent, for in a priced list of 

 the spices sold by the apothecaries of the north of France, A.D. 1565-70, 

 mention is made of three sorts of saffron, of which "Safren cTEngleterre" 

 is the most valuable." It was evidently produced in considerable quan- 

 tities, for in 1682 we find in the tariff of the "Apotheke" of Celle, 

 Hanover, crocus austriacus optimus, and Crocus communis anglicus.^ 



In the beginning of the last century (1723-28), the cultivation of 

 saffron was carried on in what is described by a contemporary writer *" 

 as — " all that . large tract of ground that lies between Saffron Walden 

 and Cambridge, in a circle of about 10 miles diameter." The same 

 writer remarks that saffron was formerly grown in several other counties 

 of England. The cultivation of the crocus about Saffron Walden, which 

 was in full activity when Norden^ wrote in 1594, had ceased in 1768, 

 and about Cambridge at nearly the same time.' Yet the culture must 

 have lingered in a few localities, for in the early part of the present 

 century a little English saffron was still brought every year from 

 Cambridgeshire to London, and sold as a choice drug to those who were 

 willing to pay a high price for it. 



Saffron was employed in ancient times to a far greater extent than 

 at the present day. It entered into all sorts of medicines, both internal 

 and external ; and it was in common use as a colouring and flavourino- 

 ingredient of various dishes for the table. The drug, from its inevitable 

 costliness, has been liable to sophistication from the earliest times. 

 Both Dioscorides and Pliny refer to the frauds practised on it, the 

 latter remarking — " adultenitur nihil ceque." 



During the middle ages the severest enactments were not only made, 

 but were actually carried into effect, against those who were guilty of 

 sophisticating saffron, or even of possessing the article in an adulterated 

 state. Thus at Pisa, in a.d. 1305, the fundacarii, or keepers of the 

 public warehouses, were required by oath and heavy penalties to de- 

 nounce the owners of any falsified saffron consigned to their custody.^" 



1 Groves, Pharm. Joitrn. vi. (1875) 215. « Pharm. Joum. \i. (1876) 1023. 



- Inzenga, in Annali d' Afjricoltiira Sici- "^ Douglass, Phil. Trans. Nov. 1728.566. 



liana, i. (1851) 51. « Description of Essex, Camden Society, 



» Tragus, De Stirpium, etc. 1552, p. 763; 1840. 8. 



Ochs, Geschickte der Stadt und Landschaft ^ Morant, op. cit. ; Lysons, Magna Bri- 



Basel, iii. (1819) 189. tannia, vol. ii. pt. i. (1808) 36. Lysons 



^ Morant, Hist, and Antiq. of Essex, ii. records that at Fulboum, a village near 



(1768) 545. Cambridge, there had been no tithe of saff- 



® The other sorts are " Safren Calulome " ron since 1774.' 



and " Safren Noort." — Archives ge ner ales du ^o Bonaini, Statuti inediti della cUtd di 



Pas de Calais, quoted by Dorvaidt, Heme Pisa dal xii. al xiv. secolo, iii. (1857) 101. 

 pliarmaceutique de 1858. p. 58. 



